Bangalore : The bus passengers will soon feel the pinch of revision of bus fare with the High Court directing the Dakshina Kannada RTA to implement the fare hike notification issued by the State government.

When lawyers representing bus owners said that the High Court has annulled the previous revision and has asked the RTA to implement the fare revision issued by the State government dated July 31, 2013, here at the RTA meeting on Tuesday June 23, the DC said that the fare vision will be notified within three days. The district administration has received the copy on revision of fares on Monday.

As per the government notification, the minimum fare should be Rs 8. There will be hike for every next stage. In fact, the RTA had revised the bus fare on June 7. However, as the bus owners were not happy with the revision, they had approached the High Court seeking the effective implementation of fare hike notification issued by the State government.

The lawyers said that the RTA is not empowered to revise the fares which is less than that of notified by the government.

Canara Bus Operators Association President Rajvarma Ballal said that the bus owners are in distress. “If the RTA feels that the bus fares notified by the State government will burden the commonman, then he can take a decision and we will abide by the RTA’s decision.”

Nagarika Hitharakshana Vedike President Hanumantha Kamath said that government officials who sit in Bangalore and issue notification on revised bus fare have no knowledge on the impact of hike in price of essential commodities on commonman.

The rate revised by the RTA on June 7 was acceptable to all. The contention of the bus owners that they are incurring loss can not be accepted.

Kamath said that several buses in the City are violating the DM notification of 1992, by entering the DM Notification zone. The bus operators take permits for plying outside the DM notification zone. However, they ply within the DM notification zone.

Similarly, 60 contract carriage buses enter State Bank area and violate the rules. If such is the case, then the RTA should issue permits for KSRTC buses under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM).

The KSRTC had sought permits for running eight buses to Karkala via Mangalore-Padubidri in 2010. The DC promised to announce the decision shortly. The KSRTC had sought permits for 34 buses to ply via Karkala-B C ROad and other rural areas.

However, opposing the issue of permits, private bus operators demanded joint survey of the routes. As the KSRTC had sought permission for running two buses in one application, the DC directed them to modify the applications. The KSRTC has also applied for permits to ply 10 buses from Mangaladevi-Porkodi via Kankanady-Nanthoor-Lalbagh. The meeting also discussed on plying KSRTC buses to Polali from Mangalore.

One of the citizens said that Mangalore-Kavoor-Maravoor-Bajpe airport buses should ply to Bajpe bus stand, to help the residents of the region. Superintendent of Police Sharanappa and RTO Afzal Khan were present.- DHNS