STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Launch owners are now demanding that they be allowed to charge twice the current fare when people are already reeling from hiked bus fares following the record surge in fuel prices.

Bangladesh Inland Waterways (passenger carriers) Association, an organisation of the launch owners, yesterday wrote to the chairman of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), seeking 100 percent hike in launch fare.

The shipping ministry will hold a meeting with launch owners at noon today to go over their application, Rofiqul Islam, director (marine safety and traffic management) of BIWTA, told The Daily Star.

In the letter, Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, president of Bangladesh Inland Waterways (passenger carriers) Association, said numbers of launch passengers have declined following the opening of Padma Bridge in June.

The government has hiked diesel prices by Tk 34 per litre while lubricant price in the global market saw a 50 percent hike, the letter said. The prices of different spare parts also doubled due to the devaluation of the taka against the US dollar.

As a result, operation cost of launches rose by 100 percent, reads the letter.