CHENNAI: A day after DMK working president and Leader of Opposition MK Stalin demanded his resignation over the increased bus fare issue, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Sunday squarely blamed mismanagement during the DMK’s previous regime for the pile of woes of the transport corporations.
“The DMK government in 2011 left behind a debt burden of Rs 3,392.15 crore for the transport corporations. The arrears of the pensioners was Rs 922.24 crore while that of serving employees was Rs 1,528.05 crore. This apart, they had mortgaged 112 properties belonging to the corporations while stepping down from power,” Palaniswami told reporters at the Madurai Airport.
He noted that despite grappling with such a huge debt burden, the AIADMK government had not increased the fares for the last six years. Pointing out the circumstances under which the government has opted for revising the fares, the Chief Minister noted that the cost of fuel, new buses and spare parts had gone up when compared to the rates prevailing during the previous DMK regime. And the pay revision made every three years too added to the expenditure.
The State government provided an assistance of Rs 409 crore in December, 2017, and the same had increased to Rs 492.96 crore now owing to the recent pay revision, he noted. Countering the charges levelled by Stalin that the Chief Minister had increased the bus fare without mercy, Palaniswami noted that the government had settled the arrears to pensioners to the tune of Rs 922 crore, left behind by the previous DMK regime, only because Amma’s government had a kind heart.
Stalin’s jibe
Meanwhile, Stalin described the partial cut in the increased fare as nothing but an eye wash. “The government has announced a cut in the fare in the wake of united protests launched by the opposition parties and the voluntary stir staged by students and the public. The cut is nothing but an eye-wash,” he told reporters.
Replying to a question on the Chief Minister’s charges that DMK was responsible for the financial woes of the transport corporations, Stalin said he had already responded to these charges on the floor of the State Assembly.
Opposition to stage road roko today for total rollback of fare hike
Chennai: Hours after government announced a partial slash in the increased bus fare, opposition parties made it clear they were in no mood to accept anything less than a total rollback of the hiked fare. An all party meeting, chaired by DMK working president MK Stalin at Anna Arivalayam on Sunday decided to stage a road roko on Monday.
“It is decides to stage picketing on January 29 in all the headquarters of corporations, municipalities, town panchayats and panchayat unions to stress the demand,” a resolution stated. Top leaders, including S Thirunavukkarasar (Congress), former MP A Ganesamoorthy (MDMK), former MLAs A Soundarrajan (CPI-M), D Ravikumar (VCK) and M Veerapandian (CPI) were among others who participated in the meeting. The opposition parties also demanded the government to take steps to release all those arrested after resorting to voluntary protests against the bus fare hike, besides withdrawing the cases registered against them and giving up victimisation.
‘Strengthen cycle sharing system’
Chennai: PMK founder S Ramadoss, in a statement on Sunday, emphasised the need to strengthen the Chennai Metro Rail’s cycle sharing system. Saying that the system has opened to a good response, Ramadoss raised issues of availability of only 120 bicycles and the difficulties faced by passengers to leave the cycles in the same station that they are picked up from. He added that the city loses `500 crore due to transport delays. The leader also sought a total recall of the bus fare hike.