Meet on bus fare hike called off

The government on Thursday abruptly cancelled a meeting of the officials convened to discuss the proposal to hike bus fares.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy was supposed to chair the meeting with Transport Minister D C Thammanna and department officials.The meeting has been postponed to October 9. The four road transport corporations (KSRTC, BMTC, NEKRTC, NWKRTC) had proposed to hike bus fares by 18%.

On September 17, the corporations went ahead and announced the hike. Kumaraswamy had, however, reversed the decision in less than half an hour. Thammanna said that, “There is no choice, but to increase the fares. The fares will be revised very soon,” he added.