Fares of buses, autos and taxis in Delhi will be hiked in view of a decision of the Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) on Saturday to raise the price of CNG by about Rs four to Rs 16.83 per kg, city transport minister Ajay Maken said on Saturday night. He, however, refused to spell out the extent of the fare hike, saying that it will be decided after assessing the impact of CNG price hike. Maken said that he had called a meeting of transport officials including transport commissioner S Khullar and Delhi transport chairman on Sunday to discuss the matter. Describing IGL`s move as unfortunate, he said that hike in the price of gas would have an impact on the transport services as almost the entire public transport plies on CNG.
He said that it was regrettable that while IGL was supplying CNG to industrial houses at Rs 3.80 per kg, the gas was supplied to the Delhi transport services at Rs 16.82 per kg. Delhi cabinet will also meet on Monday to discuss the development, official sources said.
Earlier in the day, A K De, managing director of IGL, the sole supplier of CNG in Delhi, announced hike in CNG prices by over 28 per cent from Rs 13.11 per kg to Rs 16.83 per kg.
He said that the decision had been taken mainly because of rise in cost of gas by Rs 2.29 per kg and doubling of operating cost.
Post-price increase, the per kilometre operating cost of three-wheelers would go up from Rs 0.38 to Rs 0.48 while that of buses would increase from Rs 3.7 to Rs 4.75, De said adding that running a CNG car would now cost Rs 0.81 per km as against Rs 0.63 per km presently. Bureau Report