Mangaluru : The Dakshina Kannada Regional Transport Authority (RTA), which has miserably failed to enforce its own autorickshaw fare revision order of January 9, said on Thursday that it would pass a revised order shortly.

Bowing to pressure tactics by autorickshaw drivers and politicians, the RTA convened a fresh meeting to decide about the fares. Autorickshaw operators, who had been continuously defying the RTA notification on fare reduction, repeated their argument that the cost of living has not come down despite the steep reduction in fuel prices.

The RTA had, on January 9, brought down the minimum fare from Rs. 25 to Rs. 20 (for 1.5 km distance) and the per km fare from Rs. 14 to Rs. 13, on a par with December 2012 fare notification. Though the RTA should have fixed Rs. 23 as the minimum fare in the August 2014 fare revision, it kept the fare at Rs. 25 to avoid “small change” issue.

President of Forum for Justice, Mangaluru, Dayanath Kotiyan, said that the fares fixed on January 9 were just. If at all operators were unhappy, the per km fare may be fixed at Rs. 14 and the minimum should be kept at Rs. 20, he argued.

Autorickshaw operators, who had gathered in large numbers, were able to silence the voice of the miniscule general public attending the meeting.

After hearing lengthy submissions by operators, RTA Chairman and Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim said that he would announce the decision soon.