Pvt bus operators stop services in 7 routes to protest diesel price hike

Kolkata: Protesting against the rising prices of diesel, private bus operators stopped running buses in 7 routes on Wednesday.

"We are not running private buses on 12, 12A, 12B, 12AD, 39, 39A and 39A/2 routes from December 23," said Surajit Saha, Vice-President of Bengal Bus Syndicate.

He said the bus owners are unable to run buses due to skyrocketing diesel price, which now stands at Rs 77.44

per litre.

"In the last 10 months, the price of diesel has increased by Rs 10 and the bus fare is the same. We will die if the price of diesel is increased by the Central government in future," pointed out Saha.

There are 42,000 private buses and 3000 mini buses in the state. The total number of buses in the 7 routes is around 350.

"The state government had earlier assured that the bus fare will be increased. We have submitted several letters to the state Transport department in connection with the fare hike. We have not yet received any response," said Tapan Banerjee, General Secretary of Joint Council of Bus Syndicates.