Bus fares are about to go up in WB

KOLKATA: Bus fares are about to go up again in West Bengal. After the Centre increased the price of petrol and diesel by Rs 4 a litre and Rs 2 a litre respectively on Wednesday, private transport operators in the state demanded an immediate hike in bus fares. The exact impact of the price hike on petrol and diesel prices in Kolkata was not known at the time of going to press.

President of Bengal Bus Syndicate Swarnakamal Saha on Wednesday said, they would meet on Thursday to finalise their demand for a hike in bus fares. "We will meet West Bengal transport minister Subhas Chakraborty on Friday and take up the issue with him," Saha said.

He added that bus fares were reduced after the Centre decreased the price of diesel this January. "Now the government has increased the diesel price and we will have to increase the fare to run the buses," Saha added.

Meanwhile, opposition leader in the state Assembly and Trinamool Congress MLA, Partha Chatterjee on Wednesday expressed his displeasure over the Centre���s decision to increase the price of petrol and diesel.

Chatterjee, on the other hand, demanded that the state government should reduce the sales tax and surcharge on diesel to enable the public transport operators to ply their vehicles without putting any additional burden on the commuters.

Assembly under powercuts:

Proceedings of the state Assembly were disrupted for more than 15 minutes on Wednesday following a power cut. A Trinamool Congress legislator was presenting his speech when the lights went out all of a sudden.

Trinamool Congress MLAs, led by Partha Chatterjee, the opposition leader, came out of the House with candles in their hands and hollered slogans against the state government for its failure to maintain power supply in an important establishment like the state legislature.

Chatterjee later told reporters at the lobby that the government had failed to perform in every sphere and the chief minister should resign immediately.