The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has strongly condemned the recent decision of the Himachal Pradesh government to increase the minimum bus fare from Rs 5 to Rs 10, a 100% hike.
The party on Sunday demanded that the government immediately withdraw this decision, which will burden the common people, especially daily wage workers, students, employees, women, and youth.
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CPM State Secretary Sanjay Chauhan said that the hike will disproportionately affect the poor and marginalised sections of society.
“The government’s claim of increasing fares due to financial crisis and losses in HRTC is unjustified, as the crisis is a result of neoliberal policies,” he said.
Blaming the successive governments, he said that the state-run Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) is being forced to operate on loss-making routes while private operators are given profitable routes.
Presenting data, he claimed that the HRTC operates only on 2,573 routes with 3,150 buses, while the private operators run around 8,300 buses on profitable routes.
Such a situation has led to a deliberate crippling of HRTC compelling to incur losses, while private bus operators continue to make profits. The CPM has demanded a rollback of the bus fare hike and urged the government to strengthen public transportation services like HRTC and provide better facilities to the people, he said, adding that there was a need for a welfare state to prioritise the needs of the common people.
“The hike will lead to increased traffic and pollution in cities like Shimla, as people will prefer private vehicles over public transport,” he said.
Chauhan cautioned the state government that if the decision is not withdrawn, the party will launch a statewide movement to protest against its anti-people policies.
