Jatri Kalyan Samity, a passengers' welfare organisation insisted on not hiking the fares of public transports and urged government to reduce oil price and prevent extortion in transport section amid coronavirus pandemic.
The organisation’s Secretary General Mozammel Haque came up with the request in a press statement on Friday.
Fare hike will impose double the misery on people who are already suffering greatly after losing their earning source during the long lockdown to curb Covid-19 transmission, he said.
“Once fare goes up in any crisis moment, it never decreases in future and people are now in unprecedented agony,” he said.
Besides, buses and mini-buses of the capital have to pay Tk 1200 to Tk 1800 or Tk 200 per day as extortion, according to different media reports, he said.
He requested government to reduce oil price so that transports can operate with smaller number of passengers charging the normal fare.
In the global market the prices of oil has been already reduced and Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has been getting great amount of profit by selling it at expensive rates, he said.
Reducing oil price will also bring benefit for launches enabling them to operate with profit despite of boarding half commuters, he insisted.
The government earlier allowed limited operation of public transport and Water vessels with less number of commuters from May 31 amid the coronavirus outbreak.Public transports and water vassals were shut after the government announced general holidays from late March to contain the transmission of coronavirus.
Meanwhile, health authorities confirmed the detection of record 2,523 new patients in the last 24 hours, raising the total cases to 42,844. Twenty three more people died from coronavirus, taking the death tally to 582.
