Will auto fares go up?

Will auto fares go up?
Vijay Times

AUTO drivers in the City may soon have a reason to smile as transport authorities are seriously thinking of permitting them to charge more for journeys. Sources in the T ransport Department said that while the minimum amount charged for a journey was likely to remain at Rs 10, the authorities were thinking of reducing the minimum distance from being two to 1.6 kilometres.

Also, the authorities were contemplating on hiking the rent for every additional kilometre travelled. While the autos charge Rs 5 for every additional kilometre now , they may be allowed to charge Rs 6. Auto prices in the City were last hiked on October 28, 2002 after auto drivers raised hue and cry about the issue. Prior to this fare hike, the fares were hiked on October 6, 2000. The minimum price then was Rs 8.80 and Rs 4.40 was charged for every additional kilometre.

Auto unions claim that when the authorities revised the prices in 2002, the pric auto gas was Rs 17.30 per litre and pric petrol was Rs 39 per litre. In September 2004, authorities made the usage of LPG fuel mandatory to end the menace of pollution. At present, auto gas costs Rs 30 per litre. U nions point out that while the prices of fuel had increased over the years, the authorities had not permitted them to charge more.

The union members claimed that they had submitted a memorandum in this regard on November 18, 2005 to the transport authorities.

According to Regional T ransport Officer (South) Syed Shafi Ahmed, who is also the secretary of the Road T ransport Authority (Bangalore U rban), a committee, headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police ( T raffic ) East M A Saleem, had been formed by Road T ransport Authority chairman M A Sadiq.

The committee, which met in January , had already submitted its report to the chairrman and was awaiting his approval.