Bus Service | At the request of the state, yet private buses are not seen on the road, what the bus owners want

#Kolkata: The transport minister’s plea was, “You get off the bus in the interest of the people. The government is looking into your matter.” The issue of private buses is the only issue that has been going on for the last two years. Bus fare will have to be increased. However, in the case of the prohibition, the bus was allowed to run, but on the first day, private buses were not seen on the road. Some buses run their own buses at increased fares, but they do not get passengers again.

But bus owners say there is no crowd today because of the state government’s holiday. The second reason is that the train service has not been launched yet. Tapan Bandopadhyay, general secretary of the Joint Council of Bus Syndicates, said, “Running a bus with 50% passengers does not mean that the bus will need 50% diesel. Fuel prices are rising every day. How can we run a bus with so little fuel? Most bus owners live on the road.” Couldn’t get off. “

With the increase in private bus fares, the owners’ organizations maintained a strategy to increase the pressure on the state. Private bus owners’ organizations are increasing pressure on the state to increase private bus fares. The bus owners’ association has warned to take to the streets if the bus fare is not increased. Incidentally, in October 2016, the Joint Council of Bus Syndicates took to the streets of Kolkata. This is because the central government has started a movement to protest the way diesel prices are constantly rising and to demand an increase in bus fares. The organization’s claim has been going on for three years, unfortunately the price of diesel has been rising in the same way till today. Lockdown was launched with Covid 19 in March last year. Since then till today private buses are not running properly.

Rahul Chattopadhyay, the leader of the organization, said, “We have a lot of costs in this industry which have to be paid even if the bus does not run on the road, even if it runs again, such as bank EMI, insurance, road tax, permit fee. “I have appealed to the state government, but there has been no solution. The state government has provided some help. But I have not received any help from the central government. I have repeatedly informed the then transport minister about the whole matter.”

Now the price of diesel is around 90 rupees. So at the moment, they want the fare to be increased if the bus is running at Lockdown Mittal. At the same time, they demanded that GST be imposed on diesel immediately. Bank EMI, insurance, toll tax should be waived by the central government immediately.

People involved in the bus industry claim that the fare has gone up from 10 paise to 20 paise in 1985, when there has never been a double fare in the state. The bus workers demanded that the fare should be increased keeping in line with the market and keeping in line with other states. There has been no report on how many times a committee has been formed to increase rents in the state since 1990. Even at one time Prabuddhanath Roy’s report was not accepted.

The bus workers claim, the CM is very humane. Our application to him is to increase the rent based on science. The state and central governments need to extend a hand of sympathy to get rid of the huge losses that have befallen bus owners for Kovid. Already many bus owners are missing. Private transport has virtually gone into a coma.

Besides, bus owners claim, you know, in the face of pollution, the Hon’ble Court of Kolkata ruled in 2009 that buses over the age of 15 cannot run in the Kolkata metropolitan area, a bus does not run for more than 260/290 days out of 365 days a year. For, the bus has not been running since last year. As long as the buses do not run from 2020, the cancellation time will have to be extended in terms of age. Unless science-based bus fares are announced, and the demands we make are met, the burden of losses will increase. Tapan Bandyopadhyay, general secretary of the Joint Council of Bus Syndicates, has demanded an immediate increase in science-based bus fares. The central government should immediately waive bank EMIs, insurance and toll taxes. The deadline for buses to be canceled annually on the basis of the age of 15 will have to be extended for Covid. The central government must immediately provide financial assistance to bus owners and workers.