Rides to schools get costlier due to hike in CNG prices

What’s more, the auto-rickshaw unions have again demanded a fare hike, for which a meeting will soon be held by the Pune district collector

With majority of schools in Pune having started for the new academic year on Wednesday, one of the main issues facing parents is the transportation of their children to and from school.

With most students travelling by auto-rickshaws and school vans, there will be a hike in their monthly transportation fees as both auto-rickshaw unions and van owners are all set to hike their monthly remuneration owing to the tremendous hike in CNG prices. (Shankar Narayan/HT PHOTO)

With most students travelling by auto-rickshaws and school vans, there will be a hike in their monthly transportation fees as both auto-rickshaw unions and van owners are all set to hike their monthly remuneration owing to the tremendous hike in CNG prices. What’s more, the auto-rickshaw unions have again demanded a fare hike, for which a meeting will soon be held by the Pune district collector.

Auto-rickshaw panchayat convenor Nitin Pawar said, “Since the last couple of months, there has been a drastric increase in the per kg rates of CNG; at one point of time, the CNG rate had decreased to Rs62 which has now gone up to Rs82 per kg. As 95% autos in Pune run on CNG, there is an urgent need to increase the fares and similarly, the auto-rickshaw fees for transportation of school students. As PM Narendra Modi was on a visit to Pune, all officials were engaged in planning the same but now, the meeting under the district transport committee will be held by the district collector, where the fare hike issue will be discussed.”

School vans, too, have hiked their monthly school transportation fees. Prakash Mhatre, owner of six school vans working with various schools in the city, said, “Earlier, we used to charge as per the distance between school and home for a student, which was around Rs500 for a range of 3 km. While now, these rates need to be changed and we have increased them to Rs600 for the same distance and accordingly, rates have been increased for further distances. The main reason behind this is the increased CNG rates, which have drastically affected our business.”

Meanwhile, parents are worried about the hike. Kalpana Nair, a parent, said, “Our school van driver had already informed us about the increased transportation fees for this month. As we do not have any option, we have to pay the fees. As the CNG rates have increased across the country, it is now having a direct impact on our monthly school transportation fees for both my son and daughter.”