Distraught commuters

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 5: The state government today effected a revision in bus fares following fall in diesel price by Rs 2.25 per litre.

The revision ranged between 1 paisa (for ordinary and express buses) and 2 paise (for deluxe and AC buses) per kilometre. However, the fare revision has left the commuters unhappy. On October 29, the state government revised the bus fare at the same rate (1-2 paisa per kilometre) in view of diesel price cut by Rs 3.63 per litre.

State transport minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi said the bus fare revision would come into effect from today itself.

The minister claimed that the state government had effected bus fare revision twice within a fortnight in quick succession keeping the public interest in view. “For us, the public interest is of foremost importance,” he said, adding that the state government had effected the fare revision based on the recommendation of the technical committee.

However, commuters described the fare revision as “disappointing”. They said the state government had raised the bus fare between 6 and 8 paise per kilometre on August 19. The bus operators then demanded a fare revision on the ground that the diesel price had gone up by Rs 7.26 per litre since the fare revision in October last year.

“Taking these facts into consideration, the fare should have been slashed by a minimum of 5 paise per kilometre,” said Radharaman Das, a commuter.

“When we expected a higher fare cut, the government made a nominal revision ignoring the interest of the commuters,” said Manmohan Prusty, another commuter.

However, a senior official of the state transport department defended the revision. “It was based on the realistic assessment,” he said.

Private bus owners, on the other hand, welcomed the revision. “We also want bus fare revision, as train fare is competitive,” said Debendra Kumar Sahu, general secretary of the All-Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association.

Sahu, however, reiterated their demand for implementation of the automatic fare revision formula.

“The fare is calculated not on the basis of diesel price alone. Price of 12 other factors, including lubricants, tyre and tube, spare parts, chassis, insurance, bank insurance and staff salary, are also taken into account,” he said.

The bus owners demanded that the Centre should ensure the price revision of other petroleum products along with diesel and petrol.