The calculations we have submitted show that cost of operations have increased by 55 paise: Thampi Kurien
Passengers in Mumbai can brace for an auto-rickshaw fare hike. One of the city’s largest rickshaw unions has petitioned the state transport department for a fare hike under the erstwhile Hakeem Committee formula which stipulated that if the cost of operations per kilometre of a rickshaw increased by more than 50 paise, then the trade should get a hike.
The Mumbai Rickshawmen’s Union has sent detailed calculations to the state transport department which show that the cost of operations per kilometre rose from Rs 12.19 in July 2015 to Rs 12.74 in March. Speaking to DNA, Thampi Kurien of Mumbai Rickshaw-men’s Union said a hike is now justified. He said last year when the formula showed that cost of operations had increased by 49 paise, the union had accepted the fact that it would not get hike because it fell short of the figure by just one paisa.
“Now, it is the government’s turn to be fair to the rickshaw trade and give us a hike. The calculations we have submitted show that cost of operations have increased by 55 paise,” said Kurien.
He said that the minimum fare as per the formula comes to Rs 19 but any call on whether to make this Rs 20 so as to mitigate problems of loose coins and change has to be taken by the government.
DNA in its September 24 edition had front-paged how the rickshaw trade believed it was losing Rs 87.5 lakh per day because of this one paise robbing them of a fare hike.
While there is a lack of clarity on the fate of the Hakeem Committee formula, Kurien said that the government had not given anything in writing to show that the committee’s formula was no longer valid.
The Hakeem Committee had laid down a complex formula for rickshaw and taxi fares by taking into account insurance, depreciation, repairs, cost of living, consumer price index and CNG prices and giving all of them a particular dynamism to come up with a paise per kilometre result.
When contacted, Praveen Gedam, state transport commissioner the matter was under consideration. “A committee headed by Mr BC Khatua is looking into it,’ Gedam said.
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