School buses may charge Rs300 more

The School Bus Owner's Association (SBOA) has decided to increase bus fees by Rs300 per month for those children who have to cross toll nakas every day. This will come into effect from the next month if the association's request to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to waive off toll charges on school buses is not accepted.

If implemented, then this will be an additional burden on parents who are already shelling out huge amounts of school fees.

President of SBOA Anil Garg said, "We have requested the chief minister through a letter to waive off toll charges on school buses. One school bus takes at least eight trips on a particular day and it has to pay toll of Rs75 on each trip. We will wait for a reply from the CM till May 31. If we don't get a reply, then we have no option but to charge the students."

At least 48,500 school buses are members of the SBOA in the state and around 200 of them ferry children by crossing toll nakas. In Mumbai, the SBOA has 50 school buses registered with them and in Navi Mumbai they have 75.