THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the anomalies in the recent bus fare revision coming under legal scrutiny through a PIL admitted in the High Court, the likelihood of the issue becoming another bone of contention between various stakeholders has emerged, leaving the State Government in a fix.Paradoxes such as the effective hike in the fare for 100 km being just Rs 2, a hike of Rs 2.50 has been slapped for travelling a mere 15 km, throwing the principle of proportionate hike to the winds, has been highlighted before the court.The main argument raised in the petition is that the anomalies in fare for stages covering five to 35 km had gone up phenomenally with the current revision, taking medium distance travellers for a ride. It has also been brought to the court’s notice that by reducing the revised fare in the fourth stage alone for ordinary bus travel from Rs 8 to Rs 7 following public outcry, the government has admitted that there is indeed anomalies in other fare stages as well.Beginning from 1996, the state witnessed nine upward revisions in bus fare, with the minimum fare for ordinary bus travel going up from Rs 1.25 to Rs 5 and kilometre charge rising from 22 paise to 55 paise. None will dispute the hike in minimum fare or per kilometre charge but will never miss the growing anomaly evident in the stage-fixation exercise.Even when authorities concerned are keen to highlight that the minimum distance for travel with the minimum fare has been doubled from 2.5 to 5 km for ordinary and fast passenger buses, the pattern of revision from stage three to 12 is reported to be taxing commuters heavily.Allegation is already there on the suspected role of a few officers in the Transport Commissionerate, which is the assigned agency for stage-fixation, that they have colluded with private bus operators to ensure more profits for the latter. Private buses, which covers nearly three-fourth of total services in the medium distance routes, are having a higher collection of Rs 1,200-1,800 daily.But in the case of long-distance buses, there is no tangible increase in per day collection. Incidentally, the KSRTC owns a lion’s share of long-distance schedules.Notices had been served on the Chief Secretary, Transport Secretary, Transport Commissioner and CMD, KSRTC and office-bearers of the Private Bus Operators Association on the basis of the writ petition (No 22080 of 2011) filed by an NGO highlighting the above facts in court.The PIL is under consideration of a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice J M Chelameswar.
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