The Mumbai Taximen’s Union has once again requested the state government to increase the minimum fare for taxis in view of the recent price hike in CNG.
The taxi unions are demanding Rs 30 as base fare as opposed to the prevailing fare of Rs 25.
Earlier, in March, this year, the fare was revised from Rs 22 to Rs 25.
In a letter to the state government, the union said , "We had addressed a letter to you on 30.11.21 requesting you to revise the minimum taxi fare from Rs.25/- to Rs.30/- after the increase in price of the CNG from Rs.51=98 to Rs.61=50 per kg since October, 2021 to December, 2021."
"Surprisingly the Mahanagar Gas Ltd. who supply the CNG to taxi operators have once again increased the price of the CNG by Rs.2/- per kg. Today CNG is costing Rs.63.50 per kg. Since October, 2021 this is the fourth increase in CNG price. The poor taxi drivers have no other option but to dump their taxis on the roads instead of operating on loss of Rs.120/- per day," it said.
"We had sent the proposal to you on 30th November, 2021 to revise the minimum taxi fare Rs.25/- to Rs.30/- .Though the price of CNG is increased by Rs 2/- per kg today, we will still stick to our earlier demand," the letter read.
In just 22 days, the prices of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has gone up once again. The Mahanagar Gas Limited has increased the delivered price of CNG by Rs 2.00/Kg and Domestic PNG by Rs 1.50/SCM in and around Mumbai, with effect from midnight of December 17.
According to MGL, they have increased as in order to meet the shortfall in domestic gas allocation, MGL is sourcing additional market-priced natural gas (imported RLNG) to cater to the increasing requirement of CNG and Domestic PNG segments.
On account of a substantial increase in imported RLNG price, MGL’s input gas cost has also increased substantially. To partially offset the increase in the input cost of gas, MGL officials claim that they are constrained to increase.
The revised delivered prices inclusive of all taxes of CNG will be Rs 63.50/Kg and Domestic PNG Price will be Rs 38.00/SCM in and around Mumbai.