With the hike in diesel prices,Punjabs private bus operators on Saturday threatened to stay off the roads if the state government failed to reduce VAT on diesel,increase bus fares and reduce motor vehicle tax within three days. The secretary of the Punjab Motor Union,Rajinder Singh Bajwa,said: There are 3,800 big buses operated by private operators in the state and with the diesel hike,bus operators will now have to bear an additional burden of Rs 1.80 lakh per year per bus. The operators state that the hike will affect mini-bus owners the most. We have 5,500 mini-buses and in most cases,the owner is either the driver or the conductor as most of them have only one bus. Profits are only around Rs 500 a day and with this hike,we will suffer losses, said Jasminder Singh Grewal,president of the Punjab Mini Bus Operators Union. The motor vehicle tax should be reduced from Rs 2.25 per kilometre to Rs 1.25 per kilometre,VAT on diesel should be reduced so that diesel prices come down and there should be a marginal increase in bus fares as the last time there was an increase on December 13,2010,the rates were increased from 56 paisa per kilometre to 66 paisa per kilometre. In the last two years,diesel has increased by Rs 8.50 per litre while bus fares have remained the same. Buses should also be exempted from toll tax as operators pay the motor vehicle tax and cess on diese Bajwa added. The private operators state that if the state government did not meet their demands they will be left with no other alternative but to take buses off the road. Bajwa further said that in a meeting of the Punjab Motor Union on Saturday,there were complaints that the state government had issued too many bus permits and extended routes and hence had already affected the viability of the business.
