Pvt bus owners to go on strike on June 29

Protest the hike in diesel prices.

Private bus operators in Kerala will go on a one-day strike on June 29 in protest against the diesel price hike. Kerala State Private Bus Owners Federation, Kerala State Private Bus Operators Federation and Private Bus Operators Co-ordination Committee have urged the government to enhance the minimum charge for buses in the state to Rs 6 from the current rate of Rs 4. 

This rate had been fixed when the diesel price was Rs 36 per litre. Now this has been increased to Rs 45.14. They also demanded that the concession to students of various schools and colleges be withdrawn and if the government wants to continue with the concession, the bus operators should be adequately compensated by giving subsidy.

 

The private bus sector in Kerala is in serious trouble as the operation cost had increased multi-fold in recent years. Apart from the increase in the price of diesel, prices of spare parts have also increased.

Leaders of various organisations of the sector told Business Standard that in the case of diesel alone the daily working cost would be enhanced by Rs 700. In Kerala around 25,000 private buses are plying daily and it is the only means of transport in many parts of the state. Meanwhile, the Kerala government may reduce the additional sales tax on diesel in order to provide some relief to the customers. The government will get 82 paise pe litre in excess through Saturday's hike.

Chief minister Oommen Chandy has instructed the officials to quantify the loss to exchequer through the of the evasion of this additional 'benefit'. The first meeting of the UDF cabinet had decided to withdraw the additional tax through the increase of petrol price thereby giving the benefit of Rs 1.22/litre to the consumers. This costs Rs 131.94 crore to the government. Diesel has a state sales tax of 24.6 per cent while petrol attracts 26 per cent.

As per the latest revision of LPG, one cylinder of 14.3 kg will now cost Rs 416 in Kerala including the tax content. This was  Rs 364 earlier. The actual cost to the end-users will be around Rs 425 per cylinder on an average inclduing the transportation charge of the gas agencies. In Kerala, a major chunk of the families use only LPG for their cooking needs.

Market sources already signalled a price increase for the essential items like vegetables, egg, fish and meat as the state depends on other states for these items.

There may be an increase of Rs 2,500 - 3,500 per trip for transportation from Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, which will reflect in prices at large.  Kerala depends mainly on Andhra Pradesh for rice and pulses.

Fishing boat owners told Business Standard that trawling would be difficult as the diesel price increase would hamper this sector badly. Out of the average expense of  Rs 1 lakh per one sailing to the sea, 50 per cent is the cost of diesel.

They said that the working cost would increase by Rs 10,000 per trip in the case of diesel alone. So the fishing sector would be a serious casualty of the diesel price rise, boat owners said.