Bus, auto, taxi fares hiked in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Travel by bus, auto-rickshaw and taxi in the national capital will be costlier with the Delhi government on Monday raising the fares “as a balancing measure� in view of the hike in CNG cost effected more than a week ago.

Announcing the new fares, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit told reporters that the move would fetch the government an additional revenue of Rs 1.45 crore per month.

While no changes have been made in the bus fares up to a distance of four kilometres, travel beyond that distance will be costlier by Re 1, Ms Dikshit said after the Delhi Cabinet arrived at the decision.

Regarding auto-rickshaws and taxis, she said the starting meter for these has been doubled from Rs 2.50 and Rs 5, respectively.

The new fare structure would be effective after issuance of a notification in a couple of days, she said.

The new fares were announced amidst a threat by the transporters to withdraw diesel-run buses from today as they had to pay a penalty of Rs 1,000 per day from today as per a Supreme Court direction.

Dikshit said her government was “forced� to revise the fares of public transport as the Central government had paid no heed to her plea for roll-back of CNG price hike of “whopping 38 per cent�.

Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL), sole provider of CNG in Delhi in which 95 per cent stake is held by the Government of India, increased the base price of the fuel on April 27 from Rs 11.30 per kg to Rs 14.51 per kg.

The Delhi government subsequently formed a four-member core committee, headed by chief secretary Shailja Chandra, to assess the impact of the price hike and suggest raise in fares of public transport.

The committee’s report was discussed at the Cabinet meeting yesterday but was not accepted, Dikshit said adding the committee met transport minister Ajay Maken today and the new fare structure was formulated.

“We want the commuter should not be charged more than what is absolutely necessary. We also want that transporters should not suffer on account of the CNG price hike and considering that buying new CNG chasis was expensive,� the chief minister said.

The core committee had suggested the fare structure of Rs 3 for a distance of four km, Rs 5 for a distance of up to eight km, Rs 8 for a distance up to 12 km and Rs 12 for beyond 12 km.

However, the government decided that the fare structure should be Rs 2 for a distance up to four km, Rs 5 for a distance up to eight km, Rs 7 for distance up to 12 km and Rs 10 for beyond 12 km, Dikshit said.