CHENNAI: With Transport Minister A Vijay Tamilan Parthiban scheduled to submit demands for grants in the Assembly on Friday, auto drivers’ union has urged the government to announce the revision of auto fares on the same day.
Speaking to reporters, on Wednesday, S Balasubramaniam, general secretary of Auto-Taxi Workers Association (CITU), warned that the auto drivers' associations will stage a protest if any announcement regarding the fare revision was not made in the Assembly. He recalled that the union has demanded the government to fix the minimum fare at Rs 60 for 1.5 km, Rs 30 for every additional kilometre, a night charge of 1.5 times the normal fare, and a waiting charge of Rs 1 per minute.
“We have submitted the request during a tripartite meeting chaired by the minister on July 9. We are expecting the department to fix the charges immediately,” he said.
He further demanded the government to regulate or ban the bike taxis as they are affecting the livelihood of 5 lakh families of auto drivers. Meanwhile, Sigy Thomas Vaidhyan, commissioner of transport and road safety, has convened a meeting with auto drivers union to further discuss the fare revision and other issues on Thursday.
Fares of auto-rickshaws were last fixed in August 2013 during the AIADMK regime. Fares were fixed at Rs 25 for the first 1.8 km and Rs 12 for every additional kilometre. However, auto drivers resorted to collecting higher fares citing rising fuel costs.