Govt-transporters talks on fare review inconclusive; air travel to become slightly cheaper

A meeting between the government and the transporters to review the public transportation fare ended inconclusively on Monday with the latter refusing to lower the fares commensurate with the reduced price of petrol and diesel.

During the meeting held at the Ministry of Labour and Transport Management, representatives of the Transport Entrepreneurs National Federation insisted that they were unable to lower the fares right now because of increased operation costs including the passenger insurance, which is their liability.

Saroj Situala of the federation told reporters after the meeting that operators are in favour of long-term policy on transportation fares rather than adjusting the fares every time the prices of petroleum products change. The government according to him, is also positive about introducing a long-term and scientific policy on transformation fares.

Minister for Labour and Transport Management Lekhraj Bhatt, who was present at the meeting, however said the fares must be reduced in proportion with the recent cuts in fuel prices.

Within a couple of weeks, the government reduced the price of petrol, diesel and aviation fuel twice owing to the decline in oil prices in the international market.

The government representatives and the transporters will again sit for talks over the issue some time next week.

eanwhile, the airlines operators have decided to reduce the fuel surcharge on air tickets by 50 to 300 rupees depending on the flight distance.

A meeting of the Airlines Operation Association Nepal today took this decision. nepalnews.com mk Nov 03 08

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