CHENNAI: CPM state secretary P Shanmugam on Friday condemned the alleged unilateral hike in fares by private bus operators across several districts in Tamil Nadu and urged the state government to intervene immediately to roll back the increase.

In a statement, Shanmugam said private bus operators had increased fares on both town and mofussil services without any prior notice in districts including Coimbatore, Erode, Tiruppur, The Nilgiris, Dindigul, Salem, Madurai, Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai and Nagapattinam. He said, in several cases, the minimum fare had been raised from Rs 10 to Rs 15.

Describing public transport as an essential service, Shanmugam said the sudden fare hike would place an additional financial burden on poor, middle-class and economically weaker sections, besides affecting students and other daily commuters. He alleged that increasing passenger fares without government approval was illegal and expressed concern that transport department officials and district administrations had failed to act against the unauthorised fare revision.

The CPM urged the state government and transport department authorities to intervene in the interest of the public and ensure that the arbitrary fare hike imposed by private bus operators was withdrawn immediately.