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The meeting between the State transport minister, Mr Madan Mitra and auto union representatives to determine auto fares ended inconclusive on Sunday.
While, there was no decision on hiking fares, the State government consented to setting up a committee to look into demands by union representatives.
City-based auto-rickshaw unions had demanded either a rollback of State taxes such as VAT or a hike in auto fares to compensate for the rise in auto LPG prices.
“We will set up a committee to review the demands of the unions and see whether there is a need for hike in auto fares.
The committee will also decide whether there is a need to roll back State taxes such as sales tax or VAT or not,” Mr Mitra told reporters following the meeting.
Committee on New Fares
According to Mr Mitra, the 12-member committee will be headed by the State transport secretary.
It will have representation from the CPI (M), Congress and Trinamool Congress backed trade unions and other police representatives from Kolkata, Howrah and Salt Lake.
“The committee will give us its recommendations within 72 hours (3 days). Based on its recommendations, a decision will be taken,” Mr Mitra said.
Gas price rise and fare hike
A 14 per cent increase in auto-gas price and a “no fare hike” policy of West Bengal government saw auto-rickshaw operators in Kolkata bring city traffic to a near standstill on Monday and Tuesday.
State-owned oil marketing companies - IOC, BPCL and HPCL - had on Sunday onwards hiked the price of auto LPG to Rs 53.06 a litre from the existing Rs 46.57 a litre.
While auto LPG prices have moved up by nearly Rs 6.50 a litre in the last one month, the Government has been adamant not to let passenger fares move up. Government-mandated auto-fares currently stand at a minimum of Rs 4 in each of the 125 auto routes of the city. This has been unchanged for over a year despite upward and downward movements in the price of auto gas.
However, auto-rickshaw drivers, backed by the trade unions, have arbitrarily hiked fares across some routes. Hikes have varied between Rs 5 and Rs 6 (25 per cent to 50 per cent) in some routes.
The other decision taken at the meeting was to ensure that government-mandated fares are charged by auto-drivers. It was also decided that sale of auto-rickshaws will be temporarily suspended in the city.
Auto-rickshaw drivers after getting a route permit through their union representatives have been known to sell the autos with the permit at a premium.
“We have also decided to ensure that all autos plying in the city have valid licenses,” Mr Mitra said.
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