Students write to vice-chancellor on DTC bus fare hike

Students of Delhi University Tuesday wrote to the vice chancellor, protesting the hiked price of the student's pass for Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses and urging him to talk to the chief minister to re-think the decision.

A cabinet meeting Monday decided to hike DTC bus fares, including the Rs.12.50 a month student's pass that after 30 years has been increased to Rs.100.

Calling the decision "drastic", Kriti Wadhera, vice-president of the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) said: "Delhi University, like most other varsities, has students from different economic backgrounds studying in it. Therefore, this hike will be very hard for a student who may not belong to a well-to-do family and has a stringent monthly budget."

"True, spending Rs.100 a month on commuting may work out just fine for a lot of students, but from the number of requests and complaints that we have been receiving since the fare hike was announced yesterday, it is apparent that a number of students will be affected by this," Wadhera told IANS.

She, however, specified that it is not the hike they are opposing but the jump in the fare.

"We understand that the decision has been taken after 30 years. But if one has to increase the rate, you should increase it phase wise. Double the rate or triple it, but don't increase it by eight times! There are many students who travel from east Delhi to south campus by the university special buses of the DTC and they will be affected by it," Wadhera added.

Agreeing with her, former DUSU president Ragini Nayak said: "If you see, Rs.100 is not such a big amount and most of us spend that much amount on snacks every other day. But then, there are students from all backgrounds studying in DU and this decision will affect them."

"Therefore, the hike should be done in a phase wise manner, like doubling it for five years and revising it again after that," Nayak told IANS.

According to Wadhera, the students of the university will plan a mass protest against the hike soon.

"As of now we have written to the vice-chancellor of the university, Deepak Pental, asking him to talk to the government and re-think the decision. If that does not work out, we will think of other means of protesting," she added.

Last updated on Oct 27^th, 2009 at 18:04 pm IST--IANS