Chennai: “Action will be taken soon to revise the auto meter fare,” said Minister Vijay Tamilan Parthiban.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly yesterday during the debate on the demand for grants for departments including the Transport Department, Marxist Communist MLA Latha (Kilvelur) said, “In Tamil Nadu, 30,000 buses should be operated according to the current population, but only 20,500 buses are being operated.
Buses should be increased according to the population. Pension benefits should be paid to retirees on the very day they retire. As per the election promise, free bus travel for women should be implemented across the state.
Privatization should be completely abandoned. Private buses have arbitrarily increased fares. Action should be taken against this.
Since 1977, auto and taxi meter fares have not been fixed; the government should set them. The MLA constituency development fund should be increased to Rs. 5 crore.
“The police restrictions on the public coming to submit petitions at the Secretariat should be relaxed,” he said. Responding to this, Transport Minister Vijay Tamilan Parthiban said, “The demands of the members will be discussed with the officials, and whatever is possible will be implemented.
As for auto meter fares, a consultation meeting was held under my chairmanship on July 9 with auto drivers, owners, trade unions, and the public.
Subsequently, on Aug. 5, a committee was formed to install meters and fix fares, and that committee submitted its first-phase recommendations to the government on the 21st.
Based on that, action will be taken soon to revise the auto meter fare and install meters,”
he said.
Continuing his remarks, Minister Rajmohan said, “Since a large number of people are coming to the Secretariat at the same time, some commotion may arise. To address that, the Public Works Department Minister has issued announcements.
The Speaker, who has live-streamed the Assembly proceedings from the first day to the last, can truly be called the ‘live-streaming hero.’ A sign language facility for the hearing-impaired should also be arranged,” he said.
