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A dark day for commuters
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passengers,” he told The Daily Star.
Aslam, driver of a Bikolpo Paribahan bus, said, “Many bus owners have decided not to bring out their buses today [Saturday] because of the fuel price hike.”
Even though there is no official announcement of a bus fare hike, complaints of buses overcharging passengers were plentiful throughout the day.
Ashiq, a helper of Gabtali Link Paribahan, which plies Gabtoli-Jatrabari route, said, “We have increased bus fare by Tk 5 for all our routes due to the fuel price hike.”
Capitalising on the situation, rickshaw pullers and auto-rickshaw drivers started overcharging passengers too.
Ananyo Dey, a resident of the capital’s Gandaria area, normally reaches his office at Paltan on a rickshaw and pays around Tk 100. “But today, I had to pay Tk 120,” he said.
“I normally travel from Farmgate to Motijheel, spending Tk 250 to 300 for an auto-rickshaw. But today, I had to hire one for Tk 370,” said Atiqur Islam, a resident of the capital’s Tejturibazar area.
Although the hike has not increased fares of ride-share companies yet, people who were informally hiring motorcycles had to pay more.
Syed Islam, a motorcyclist standing at Karwan Bazar intersection yesterday afternoon, said “Due to the hike, we had to increase the fare.”
In Gazipur, hundreds of commuters were seen waiting for buses at bus stops at Board Bazar, Chandona intersection, Salna, Rajendrapur, Masterbari, Mawna and Joinabazar areas throughout the day.
Failing to board buses, many tried to cram into human hauliers that were already jam-packed.
Rafiqul Islam, a resident of Tongi area, works in a garment factory at Bagherbazar area.
“Normally, I get a bus within five to 10 minutes. But today [yesterday], I couldn’t do so even after waiting for over an hour. Then, I along with a few other passengers rented a microbus and went to our workplaces,” he said.
Sultan Uddin, a transport leader in Gazipur, said many bus owners did not operate their buses due to the fuel price hike.
In Pabna, bus operators have increased fare for most of the routes without any official announcement.
“I used to travel from Kushtia’s Bheramara upazila to Pabna town spending Tk 70. But the bus operator took Tk 100 from me today [Saturday],” said Muslima Khatun, a schoolteacher.
In Manikganj, low presence of buses prevailed on Dhaka-Aricha and Dhaka-Paturia highways as well as on different short routes. Bus operators were seen overcharging passengers.
In Narsingdi, most of the transport owners kept bus operation suspended due to the hike, causing untold sufferings to passengers.
[Our correspondents from Gazipur, Pabna, Manikganj and a correspondent from Narsingdi contributed to the report.]

It’s lower than
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The neighbouring countries did not provide such subsidy and as a result they had to raise the fuel prices long before Bangladesh, he added.
“India has been selling diesel at Tk 114 per liter and octane at Tk 134-135 per liter which is the current price in Bangladesh. As our price was lower, a huge amount of fuel was being smuggled to India through borders,” he said.
He said in Kolkata, current diesel price is Tk 114 per liter (as per local currency) while Tk 112 in allover India. “In China, the diesel price is equal to Tk 118, in United Aram Emirates it is Tk 123, in Nepal it is Tk 127.82, in Indonesia Tk 138.24 and in Singapore Tk 189. 78,” said the minister.
Regarding the increase in transport fares he said, if there are 70 percent passengers in a 50-seat bus the fare will increase by Tk 0.29 per kilometer only.
“Currently, a passenger has to pay Tk 1.80 per kilometer which will increase by Tk 2.90. Soon the government will hold a meeting with all stakeholders to ensure that no one takes unfair opportunity of the fuel price hike,” he said.