With the Centre announcing the hike in fuel prices by Rs 4 a litre for petrol and Rs 2 for diesel, the taxi and bus associations in the city are demanding a hike in fares. Unlike buses and taxis in cities like Delhi and Mumbai which run on CNG, prices of which remain unchanged, fares of transport services in Kolkata may change as associations gear up to submit their deputations to the state transport minister on Friday.

The Centre has said the hike in fuel prices was necessary to curb the losses of state-owned oil companies — Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation — which are losing Rs 6 per litre on petrol and Rs 3.62 per litre on diesel.

While taxi unions met the State Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty on Thursday to formulate a revised fare chart, the bus associations held a meeting among themselves to decide on the revised fares. They have threatened to go on an agitation if the state government does not pay heed to their demands.

“When there is a reduction in the fuel prices, we agree to reduce our fares. So when fuel prices are up, we urge the government to increase the fares. We have spoken to the minister on Thursday and will sumbit a deputation on Friday. We want the basic fare to be Rs 22 and then increase every 200 m,” said Madan Mitra, president, Progressive Taxi Mens’ Association.