Auto, taxi fares to go up soon

Kochi: The auto and taxi fares in the state will be hiked soon. Based on the demands raised in the fare revision committee meeting chaired by Justice (Rtd) Ramachandran held here on Saturday, the committee will submit a  report to the government within two months. Transport commissioner K.Padmakumar also attended the meeting.

The representatives of All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), Kerala Online Drivers Union (KODU) and Kerala Travel Operators Association (KTOA) attended the meeting.

The taxi union representatives, who demanded an increase in minimum running charges, wanted Rs. 450 to be the fixed minimum charge for 10 km for vehicles below 1500 CC and Rs. 24 for each extra km, while the current rate is Rs. 150 and Rs. 12 respectively. For vehicles above 1500 CC, they demanded extra charge of Rs. 30, while traditional taxi representatives demanded only Rs. 20.

Last time, the taxi fare hike had come into effect in September 2014. "We demand this hike because in 2014, it was Rs. 45 for one litre of diesel, now it is Rs. 78. There was an increase of around 80 percent in diesel rate, 50 percent in insurance rate, 40 percent in spare parts rate, and 20 percent in labour charges," a union representative claimed.

For autorickshaws, they demanded Rs. 30 to be the fixed minimum charge for one-and-a-half km and an extra Rs. 15 for each extra km.

The traditional taxi owners demanded to fix a uniform rate for all the online vehicles. In response to that, online drivers union asked the government to decide their charges and bring them under a common platform.

K.A. Ali Akbar, K.P. Selvan from CITU, Joy Joseph from AITUC, Jackson Varghese and Vettiyar Sujith from KODU, B.J. Francis from INTUC and John Jacob from KTOA attended the meeting.