Srinagar: A meeting between the Jammu and Kashmir administration and transporters in the civic secretariat demanding a hike in passenger fares was successful today.
The meeting was held at 12 noon on Wednesday under the supervision of Financial Commissioner Arun Kumar Mehta.
During a two-hour meeting with the officials of the All J&K Transport Welfare Association, the Jammu and Kashmir administration agreed to increase the fares by only 10 per cent. This was opposed by Vijay Singh Chib, President of the Mini Bus Workers Union and Vijay Kumar Sharma, General Secretary of All J&K Transport Welfare Association.
He made it clear that keeping in view the current prices of petrol and diesel, the increase in 10 per cent passenger fares is not justified.
Transporters directly demanded a 25 per cent fare hike. There was also a debate on this, but in the end there was a mutual agreement between the Financial Commissioner and the transporters on the increase in 19 per cent passenger fares.
Transporters have also argued before the administration that diesel was Rs 65 per liter at the time when passenger fares were increased in April 2018, which has increased to close to Rs 84 per liter today. Driving vehicles in such a situation is proving to be a loss deal for all transporters.
Transporters also demanded waiving of the token tax and passenger tax collected during the Corona period. He also appealed to the vehicle owners to disburse an amount of Rs 5 thousand per vehicle insurance premium at the earliest.
On this occasion, Arun Kumar Mehta, who was financially involved, said that soon after completing the formalities, an amount of Rs 5000 will be disbursed to pay the insurance premium.
Apart from this, within three to four days, members of the Fare Standing Committee will issue a notification regarding the new fare list of various passenger routes in the state. (PTK)
