A leader of the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) has protested the hike in the cost of the students' monthly bus pass to Rs.100 -- although it works out to a little over Rs.3 a day.
Reacting to the Delhi government decision to increase the bus pass rate after keeping it frozen at Rs.12.50 for decades, DUSU vice president Kriti Wadhera called it "drastic".
The bus pass allows students in Delhi to travel any number of times on virtually all buses operated by the Delhi Transport Corp (DTC), including the newly introduced low floor buses.
But Wadhera argued that even an expenditure of around Rs.3 a day would "be very hard for a student who may not belong to a well-to-do family and has a stringent monthly budget".
She claimed that she had got many complaints since the fare hike was announced Monday.
She clarified she was not against the hike per se but the sudden jump in the fare. "If one has to increase it, increase it in phases. Double the rate or triple it, but don't increase it by eight times."
She said the university vice chancellor had been urged to talk to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to re-think the decision.