Millions of daily commuters have rejected 10 percent increase in transport fares by the local transporters and protested against the decision. Many incidents of scuffling and pathetic scenes were observed among passengers and bus conductors on various routes of Lahore on Sunday.
The transporters have unilaterally increased the transport fares, without approval of the government which is the competent authority to fix the transport urban and inter-city fares after consultation with all stakeholders.
Talking to Business Recorder, commuters said that there is no control over the transporters who charge fares at their whims.
On the other hand, the transporters claimed that the increase in fares was due to price hike of the petroleum products. They said that if the government would withdraw its decision, the transporters would also decrease the fares.
The private transport owners plying on intra-city routes have also increased their fares by 10 percent after price hike of petroleum products.
This has caught the passengers unawares, and many incidents of verbal wars and heated arguments were seen among passengers and bus and wagon conductors. The bus/wagon conductors were adamant to charge new fares despite the fact that the provincial transport authority has not allowed any increase in fares.
The commuters were of the view that the transporters had immediately enhanced the fares with the increase in petroleum products prices, but, on the contrary, when prices were decreased, the transporters had not decreased their fares commensurately.
The transporters contradicted this argument and asserted that they were already bearing losses owing to costly spare parts, government taxes, and frequent traffic police fines. They added that the recent raise in diesel price by Rs 8 per litre had compelled them to increase the fares.
Chairman of All Pakistan Transport Owners Association, Azam Khan Niazi, said that the government should immediately take back the decision of raise in petroleum prices which has compelled them to increase the fares by 10 percent.
Meanwhile, various trade and agriculture organisations, including Anjuman Tajran Sanitary Ware, and Kissan Board Pakistan have condemned increase in prices of petrol, diesel, etc. They said the recent increase in petroleum products prices and fares was a killing bomb shell on the masses who were already being grilled by the inflated utility and commodity bills.