National Committee urges govt to reduce Metro Rail fare by 50pc
President of the organisation Md Shahid Mia and general secretary Ashis Kumar Dey issued a statement in this regard on Wednesday.
Criticising the government’s decision to set the fare at Tk 5 per kilometer and a minimum of Tk 20, the statement of the civic organisation said, where the minimum fare of private buses is Tk 10, the fare of state transport companies like railways is completely unfair, unexpected and unacceptable.
As a result, travel expenses of general people would increase, on the other hand, private transport owners, including buses and minibuses, would be benefited more, the statement said.
The leaders of the NCPSRR said that due to increase in fuel price, the cost of transportation has increased excessively.
At the same time, due to abnormal hike in prices of essential goods, including medicines, people’s living cost has increased by more than 40 per cent.
The statement said, low and fixed income people are struggling to support their families.
The National Committee strongly demanded that the minimum fare of this state-run transport should be reduced by 50 per cent to Tk 10 and the fare per kilometer should be reduced from Tk 5 to Tk 3.
The much awaited Metro Rail is going to be launched December this year. Under the first phase, it will run from Uttara to Agargaon. The fare of the route has been fixed at Tk 60 per person.
Later, Metro Rail will be expanded to Kamlapur via Motijheel. The fare from Uttara to Motijheel has been fixed at Tk 100 per person.
