TURA: West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Ram Singh has directed the district transport officer (DTO) to probe reports of private bus operators charging new fares from passengers without obtaining government permission.
The DTO has been asked to begin the inquiry from Saturday following complaints from the public against transport operators who are asking travellers to go by new rates from Monday.
“They (transport operators) came to meet me and said they want to implement the 2011 order of STA. I told them I am not the competent authority to give permission and if they are going to charge higher than authorised fare then I will have to step in. They first need to get permission for raising fares,” said DC Ram Singh who has ordered the DTO to probe the issue.
Private transport operators claim they have not raised fares since 2011 leading to losses.
They want the bus fare between Shillong and Tura to be raised by Rs 110 (from 350 to 460), Guwahati to Tura by Rs 70 (from 250 to 320), Sumo travel between Shillong and Tura to be raised by Rs 100 (from 450 to 550) and Guwahati (from 300 to 400) and fares for Xylo up to Guwahati to be charged Rs 500.
The new fares proposed by them have been termed as extremely high by travellers.
Interestingly, though the operators had announced they would await authorisation from the state transport department to begin charging of new rates, yet travellers are already being asked to shell out more at ticket counters in Tura.
A group of over two dozen college students from Tura who had already purchased tickets for Monday night journey to Shillong for a university convocation programme has been asked at the ticket counter in Tura to pay an additional amount as part of the new rates.
This has prompted parents, teachers and students to raise objections given that due permission has not been given by the government to operators to allow them to charge the new fares.
