"The decision was taken after a meeting with the private bus owners association. The government will issue notification within a week to bring the hiked bus fare into effect," a senior official with the department of transport said.

The public transport system in Chhattisgarh is totally managed by the private bus operators as the state has earlier scrapped the state-run road transport corporation.

"We wanted the government to hike the fares 50 per cent of the existing fare. But the state government agreed for 20 per cent," bus owners association general secretary Bhavesh Dubey said. Though the hike is not sufficient, it will bring some respite for the bus operators, he added.

The proposal foresees increase in the bus fare from minimum Rs 4 to maximum Rs 32.

The private bus operators had earlier threatened to pull the vehicles off the road for indefinite period from July 1 if the state government failed to accept their proposal for fare hike.

The operators have now called off the indefinite strike.

Sources said that the operators were adamant for 50 per cent hike. The transport department studied the bus fare hike in other neighbouring states besides percentage of fuel price hike since 2005 before finalising to hike the fare by 20 per cent.

"The new bus fare will come into effect from the date of notification," transport commissioner Ashok Juneja said, adding that the state government would complete the formalities within a week.