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The All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC), Karnataka State Committee, has strongly condemned the state government's decision to hike bus fares and demanded its immediate withdrawal.
In a press statement issued on Wednesday, State Secretary K Somashekhar Yadagir said the hike is another anti-people burden imposed by the state government. On the pretext that transport corporations are running at a loss, the state government has increased the bus fare of the four state transport corporations (KSRTC, NWKRTC, KKRTC, etc.) by 23 per cent and BMTC fares by 35 per cent, the statement said. The trade union centre pointed out that just a few days ago, the government had increased the price of milk by Rs 4 per litre and curd by Rs 14 per litre, imposing a huge financial burden on the people, and now it has drawn another line of price hikes. "Unemployment is rampant in the state. Jobs are being continuously lost. People are struggling for minimum income to sustain their livelihood. Along with this, over the last ten years, petrol and cooking gas costs have skyrocketed while people's wages have collapsed to rock bottom. At the same time, prices of all essential commodities have skyrocketed. With this, both urban and rural working people are facing severe hardship. Due to drought, the life of people in rural areas has become even more miserable. In such a situation, it is condemnable that the government is imposing another economic burden on the common people by increasing bus travel fares," the statement read. AIUTUC said public transport is not just a profit-making industry, but an integral part of the daily lives of workers, students, farmers, women and common people. "It is the responsibility of the government to manage the public transport system, which runs on people's tax money, from a pro-people perspective," it said. The organisation argued that the losses in transport corporations are due to corruption in the government and corporations, leakages at various levels, and overall government policies, and these should be curbed, rather than transferring the financial burden of transport corporations onto passengers. AIUTUC urged the state government to immediately withdraw the bus fare hike and called upon the working people of the state to build a massive public struggle across the state opposing this anti-people price hike. (ANI)
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