Indore : Commuters will have to shell out more while traveling in a taxi and auto-rickshaw as the Regional Transport Officer (RTO) has accepted the demand of the Taxi and Auto Association to increase the fare.
However, the officials have increased the fare by Rs 3 for daytime and Rs 2 for night against the demand of Rs 5 and Rs 4, respectively.
Hike in auto-fare came into effect from July 1 and as per the new fare chart, a passenger will have to pay Rs 14 for the first kilometer and Rs 12 per km for the subsequent journey. Earlier, the minimum fare was Rs 13 for the first kilometer and Rs 10 per km for the following journey.
“Auto drivers had demanded revision in fares. We forwarded a proposal to the Divisional Commissioner in this regard and the final decision was taken. The new fare was implemented from Tuesday,” said Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Jitendra Raghuvanshi adding that all the auto-drivers have been asked to take fare as per the reading of meter.
Most auto-rickshaws run on CNG and only a few of them are running on petrol. President of Indore Auto-Rickshaw Drivers Association Sher Ali welcomed the fare hike, as the rates of CNG have also been increasing on regular basis. “The administration has increased the fare though it is not up to our demand. But, we are happy that the administration considered our demand,” Ali said. Local residents said that it would be a double whammy for them as the Centre had already increased the railway fares and prices of petro-products. A software engineer Swami Sreedhar, a resident of Saket, said that the fare hike was necessary for auto-drivers but it would also affect the budget.
