Opp parties demand for withdrawal of bus fare hike

Bhubaneswar, Jul 7 (UNI) Activists of five opposition political parties in Orissa today demanded withdrawal of the recent hike in bus fare by the state government.

The leaders of CPI, CPI-M, Forward Block,N CP and JMM staged demonstration in front of bus stands at Baramunda and Master Canteen, preventing the private buses to ply for a brief period.

They said the hike in passenger fare should be less than one paise per kilometre as the recent hike in diesel was by Rs 2.16 per litre.

The leaders rued that the government had raised the fare by four to seven paise per km for different categories of buses.

They also termed the government appointed committee's recommendation to increase the bus fare by ten per cent as ''totally illogical and ridiculous'' The committee argued that the fare should be raised on account of rise in prices of tyre,tube and lubricants over the last few years.

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