ODISHA GOVT REDUCE BUS FARES

Odisha government today announced reduction in fares by one paise per km for ordinary and express buses following the recent cut in diesel prices. Similarly, reduction by two paise per km for deluxe and deluxe AC buses has been made, state Transport Minister Ramesh Majhi said. The new bus fares came into effect today, he added. After reduction in fares, passengers will have to pay 63 paise per km in ordinary and 66 paise in express buses. Similarly, in deluxe buses passengers will pay 87 paise per km whereas Deluxe AC buses will charge Rs 1.06 per km. As the bus operators have been demanding a mechanism to automatically reduce or increase bus fare with rise and fall in the price of diesel, the minister said "we will soon take a decision in this regard." The demand for reduction in the fares was made after the Central government freed diesel from administered price mechanism resulting in a drop in diesel rates by Rs 3.63 per litre.