Bhubaneswar, Oct. 30: Travelling in buses just got costlier. The state government today put its stamp of approval on the new fare regime decided upon by its technical committee.

The fares for ordinary and express buses were hiked by five paise, while travelling in deluxe buses became dearer by six paise per kilometre. The state government has raised the air-conditioned bus fares by eight paise per kilometre.

The new fares will come into effect from November 1. Following the hike, the fare for ordinary buses has gone up from 50 paise to 55 paise per kilometre and that of express buses from 53 paise to 58 paise per km and deluxe buses from 70 paise to 76 paise per kilometre. The AC deluxe bus fares have gone up from 85 paise to 93 paise per kilometre.

Commerce and transport minister Subrat Tarai said the state government took the decision following the recent hike in diesel prices. “We have tried our best to raise the fares by as little as possible rate so that the people of the state are not affected,” said Tarai. After the new fares were announced, the All-Odisha Bus Owners’ Association, an organisation of private bus operators of the state, called off its proposed cease-work agitation scheduled to be held on November 1.

“We have decided not to demonstrate in view of the government’s decision although we had printed leaflets and banners to go on cease-work from November 1,” said general secretary of the association Debendra Sahoo.

Earlier, the association had deferred their proposed agitation from October 14 to November 1, because of the Puja vacations.

The association had demanded a fare hike of six paise per kilometre for ordinary and express buses and a hike of seven paise and eight paise hike in bus fares for deluxe and air-conditioned buses respectively. The association members have nearly 12,000 buses, of which more than 8,000 buses are ordinary and express ones.

On September 6, a nine-member technical committee, headed by state transport commissioner, had submitted a report to the state government to revise bus fares. The committee also included representatives from the state government, Odisha State Road Transport Corporation and private bus owners.

The last time fares were revised was in July last year when the state government had raised the bus fares by four and five paise per kilometre for ordinary and express buses respectively. Fares for deluxe and air-conditioned buses were increased by six paise and eight paise respectively.

Commuters, however, felt that the hike would put an extra burden on them. “The price of essential commodities has affected us and the decision to hike bus fares will only add salt to our wounds,” said Bairagi Mohanty, a resident of Bhubaneswar.