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Punjab Cabinet nod to 16% bus fare hike
Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 13
The Punjab Cabinet has approved a hike in bus travel by 16 per cent, thereby making travel by ordinary buses more expensive by 10 paise per km. The hike for deluxe and other luxury buses will also be proportionate in terms of percentage. The hike will come into force after the government issues a notification later this week.

With the approval of the bus fare hike, cost of travel in Punjab Roadways (PR) and Punjab Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) buses will become higher than most other bus services operating in the region. The government proposal to hike bus fares has already taken into account the possibility of a further increase in diesel prices by Rs 2 in the near future.

Justifying the hike in prices, a senior official of the government said that the hike has been necessitated on account of the increase in diesel prices, increase in wages of the roadways employees of both Punjab Roadways and PRTC on account of the implementation of the 5th Pay Commission recommendations, besides an increase in dearness allowance.

In practical terms, the cost of travel from Chandigarh to Ludhiana by ordinary bus will increase by about Rs 10-from Rs 56 to Rs 66, while the fare for Volvo will go up from Rs 110 to around Rs 128. Similarly, the hike in fares from Chandigarh to Jalandhar and Amritsar by ordinary bus will go up by Rs 17 and 25 and to other places in that order.

In January this year, the state government had hiked the bus fare from 49 paise per km to 56 paise per kilometre.

Principal Secretary Transport, SK Sandhu told The Tribune that the Punjab Roadway was currently facing a loss of Rs 90 crore and with the price hike it will be able to offset it to around Rs 45 crore. Similarly, the PRTC, which is currently facing a loss of Rs 4 crore, will show profit but it has huge impending liabilities in terms of retirement benefits in the coming year. The PRTC has an existing liability of Rs 19 crore towards former employees.

While the price of diesel has risen 282 per cent, from 1998 to June this year, the wages bill of Punjab Roadways has gone up from Rs 136 crore to 186 crore. In a recent judgment, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered withholding of salary and running of vehicles of the PRTC on account of the failure to pay retirement benefits to employees of the PRTC.

Before this price hike, bus fares in neighbouring states were higher than in Punjab. In Haryana and Uttarakhand, the bus fare is 62.05 paise and 63 paise, whereas it will now be 0.66 paise in Punjab. Himachal being a hill state charges 0.71 paise per kilometre as its fare.