TURA: In the face of widespread complaints by commuters and the student community against the exorbitant rates being charged by transport operators for travel, the A’chik Youth Welfare Organization has given a week’s deadline to the transport department and the district administration to either bring down the ticket rates or cancel the licences of those commercial vehicle operators who refuse to do so.
A delegation from the central governing body of the AYWO led by it’s general Secretary Lyiend Roshan Marak met with the West Garo Hills deputy commissioner and also the district transport officer in Tura, on Monday, to raise the issue of steep fares being charged by the commerical vehicle operators in the Garo Hills.
The organization pointed out that there has been complaints about the high cost of fares since the later part of last year and transport companies had refused to adhere to a government order directing them to scale back the prices to admissible levels.
“Common people are suffering because of the steep rise in fares and transporters are doing it not because of maintenance costs but solely for profit,” alleged the AYWO.
The transport operators have raised fares in some routes by as high as Rs 150 just before the Christmas festive season taking advantage of the huge number of people expected to travel back for the holiday season.
This was done even though the fuel prices had dropped drastically giving the transport operators a windfall gain.
“In our discussion with the DC and DTO we were informed that a fresh order will be made to the operators within 7 days and if anyone fails to adhere to the order the licence of the defaulters will be cancelled,” stated the AYWO whose members have been alerted to keep a check on the issue.
Since December there has been an outcry from students against transport operators for raising the fare between Tura and Shillong by a whooping Rs 150 which was branded a ” daylight robbery”.
The hike in fares was done across the board by the transport operators with cost of tickets being raised not just for Shillong and Guwahati but even the night bus journey to Siliguri in North Bengal.
Passengers travelling by night bus to Guwahati have to pay an extra Rs 100, for Shillong an additional hike of Rs 150 and for Siliguri a whooping Rs 230 more.
The bus operators have unsuccessfully tried to justify their decision to hike fares.
A bus operator claimed that the rise in cost of insurance, vehicle registration and maintenance was behind the move to raise ticket prices though he did not put it across that such taxes are only taken once in a year.
The high charge in fares has caused a chain reaction with even local operators also following suit raising their fares to nearby destinations.
One example is of the new fares from Tura to Williamnagar which has been raised from Rs 160 to Rs 190.
“Unless this problem is solved at the earliest, citizens, particularly students and the poor will continue to suffer immensely. One cannot raise cost of travel without any justification,” stated the AYWO.
Ticket chart
Tura-Guwahati Night Bus: Rs 350 per ticket (previously Rs 250).
Tura-Shillong Night Bus: Rs 500 (earlier Rs 350).
Tura-Siliguri Night Bus: Rs 680 (earlier Rs 450).
Tura-Guwahati Day Zylo: Rs 500 (earlier Rs 400).
Tura-Shillong Day Sumo: Rs 600 (earlier Rs 500).