Shimla: A day after the Himachal government announced a stiff 30 percent hike in bus fares, opposition congress today staged a walkout in the ongoing budget session of the assembly demanding a roll back.
Not satisfied with chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal’s reply to the motion of thanks over the governors address, Vidya Stokes leader of opposition got up from her seat and demanded that the government withdraw the bus fares as it was a burden on the common man.
With the government standing by its decision, congress members trooped out shouting anti-government slogans.
Later the chief minister criticized the opposition for walking out over an unreasonable issue.
Making a suo motto statement on Monday, transport minister Mohinder Singh had announced a 30 percent hike in bus fares that was to come into effect the same day.
Justifying the hike in bus fares, Dhumal said that HRTC had an accumulated loss of Rs 512 crore s and it was impossible to run a fleet of 1900 HRTC buses without increasing bus fares after recent raise in fuel prices.
He said that bus fares were raised because of the hike in fuel prices by the Congress-led UPA government and it was ironical that Congress in the hill state was agitating over an issue created by their own party government at the centre itself.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
