On Thursday, soon after the Centre announced lower prices for petrol and diesel, Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta slapped an extra five per cent tax on them. However, Friday morning saw Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee ask Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty to slash bus and taxi fares.

But transport operators are a little miffed at the government’s “unilateral decision”.

Later in the afternoon, Chakraborty and Asim Dasgupta met at the Writers’ Buildings to finalise a new fare chart. Chakraborty told the media the new fare structure will hold good from February 10. Dasgupta also announced a 1.02 per cent reduction in sales tax that will come into effect from Saturday.

According to the new fare structure, the basic taxi fare will go down by Rs 2 while the minimum bus fare will remain unchanged. Bus fares will be reduced in two stages — Re 1 for a distance of 4 to 8 km and 50 paisa for 8 to 12 km. In case of the minibus, the minimum fare remains unchanged.

Sources said the government was forced to take the decision after CPI(M) top bosses at Alimuddin Street stepped in. At the routine Secretariat meeting on Friday, the issue was brought up, following which the party asked Bhattacharjee to reduce fares.

However, the government’s decision has made bus-owners an unhappy lot. Secretary of the

Bengal Bus Syndicate Swarnakamal Saha said: “The reduction has increased our problems. This means we will lose Rs 1.89 per litre in diesel prices and Rs 1.29 per litre from the petrol price slash. This is a one-sided decision by the state.” Several private bus syndicates are likely to place their own charter of demands before the government on this.

President of the Joint Council of Bus Syndicate Sadhan Das said: “Tomorrow we have a meeting with the bus-owners in Kolkata and the day after we shall meet those in districts.”

On Friday morning, taxi owners also agitated outside the Bengal Motor Vehicles’ office in Beltala protesting the reduction in price. The minimum fare for taxis has gone down from Rs 22 to Rs 20.

Last June, the state government cut sales tax on fuel soon after the Centre had raised prices. While the minimum bus and minibus fares remain the same at Rs 4 and Rs 5 respectively, the price concession has brought down the bus fares by Rs 1 and that of minibuses by 50 paisa from the next level.

Meanwhile, the worst hit by the price reduction will be petrol pumps in areas bordering neighbouring states. Since petrol pumps in other states will provide fuel at a lower cost, transport vehicles will line up for fuel in these

states and not in Bengal, sources said. The West Bengal Petrol Pump Dealers’ Association said this will have a huge impact on the businesses of 600 of the total 2,000 petrol pumps located on borders.

The state charges of 25 per cent sales tax on petrol and 17 per cent on diesel. Before January 14, the tax was 22 per cent and 12.5 per cent respectively. Sensing a further reduction in fuel prices, the state had increased the sales tax. Had it not been increased, the people would have had to pay Rs 2.09 less for one litre of petrol and Rs 1.32 less on a litre of diesel.

West Bengal
Petrol: Rs 44.05
Diesel: Rs 33.21

Orissa
Petrol: Rs 40.94
Diesel: Rs 33.07

Bihar
Petrol Rs 42.51
Diesel Rs 32.59

Jharkhand
Petrol: Rs 41.04
Diesel: Rs 31.62