Chandigarh: CTU bus fares hiked, Punjab government’s decision on Eco Sensitive Zone opposed
The increase of 5 per cent will be in the fares of AC and Non-AC buses for both local and long routes.
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The CTU has a fleet of 533 buses operating from four depots. (Express Photo)
The UT Administration on Wednesday hiked the fares of CTU buses by 5 per cent, following a meeting led by UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore at the UT Secretariat. The decision came in the wake of losses faced by the Transport department of the administration, as Transport Secretary AK Singla informed the officials during the meeting.
The increase of 5 per cent will be in the fares of AC and Non-AC buses for both local and long routes. Officials of the administration said that the fares were being hiked “ to neutralise GST”.
It was last in 2014-15 that the CTU had hiked bus fares after a gap of 10 years. However, due to the increase in the maintenance cost of buses, the fares are being hiked again after a four-year hiatus.
The CTU has a fleet of 533 buses operating from four depots. Of the total, 410 buses ply on inter-city routes and the rest operate on long routes. As many as two lakh commuters use CTU buses every day. In 2017-18, the CTU suffered a loss of Rs 72 crore and in 2016-17, it recorded a loss of Rs 85 crore.
The UT officials said that the private transport operators compete with the government buses in Chandigarh on the back of their end-to-end transport facility. Even though the fares of the government and private operators were incomparable, people in Chandigarh prefer private transport, the officers said. There are around two lakh people in Chandigarh, who travel on buses every day.
The decision of the Punjab government opposed
Meanwhile, the Chandigarh Administration opposed the proposal of the Punjab government, sent to the Government of India to declare 100 meters width of land from the boundary of Sukhna Lake as an Eco-Sensitive Zone.
The Eco-Sensitive Zone around the Wildlife Sanctuary is essential to act as a shock absorber. In 2017, the Chandigarh Administration had declared the area around the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary falling under the UT Administration as Eco-Sensitive Zone, the width of which ranges from 2 – 2.75 kms.
The area that falls under Punjab has not yet been declared as an Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ), for which the government of Punjab has sent a proposal to the Government of India by recommending 100 meters width area around Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary for the ESZ. The Chandigarh Administration said that declaring just 100 meters as ESZ would immensely damage the wildlife and have an adverse impact on the health of Sukhna Lake.
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