Public vehicles raise fares citing hike in fuel prices
Public transportation vehicles like three-wheelers and microbuses have raised their fares following the hike in prices of petroleum products and LP gas.
Although no transport association has issued a formal notice regarding the revision of fares, three-wheelers and microbuses plying in the valley have increased their fares by 15 to 20 percent, depending on the route.
“We have raised the fare by one rupee for the short routes and two for long routes,” a driver of a three-wheeler which runs on LP gas told Kantipur Daily. “We raised the fare due to the steady rise in gas prices.”
Kiran Khadka, coordinator of the coordination committee of vehicles run by gas said it is holding a meeting today to discuss the rise in fares brought about by the hike in prices of petroleum products and LP gas.
“Our main demand is that the government should provide subsidy in gas,” he told the paper, “if not then we should be allowed to raise the fare.”
Last week Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) had hiked the prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LP gas. Price of per litre of petrol has been increased by 6 rupees, diesel by 2 rupees, kerosene 3 rupees and cooking gas by 200 rupees per cylinder.
Immediately after NOC decided to hike the prices of petroleum products and LP gas citing mounting losses, eight student groups affiliated with various political parties had urged the government to immediately reverse the decision.
As part of their protest, the students have said they would picket the Nepal Oil Corporation’s head office in Kathmandu and organise rallies in different places around the country.
On Thursday, students and transport entrepreneurs had staged protests across the country against the price hike.
Meanwhile, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) general manager Digambar Jha has said it cannot reverse the hike in petroleum products prices because of unbearable compound losses.
Speaking at an interaction program at Reporters’ Club Nepal on Saturday, he said if the price hike is to be rolled back the government must offset the losses through subsidy.
Defending the price rise, he said there was no option in the wake of the soaring price of international crude and huge losses at NOC. nepalnews.com ag Oct 28 07
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