Claiming that the new fuel price has made it impossible for them to continue with their service, the Bengal Taxi Association has threatened to go on a strike from July 8.

“We either want the minimum fare to be Rs 25 and then Re 1 to be charged for every subsequent kilometre, or the government should give a hike of Rs 6 on the overall fare,” said Bimal Guha, general secretary of Bengal Taxi Association. He said the Rs 2-hike in diesel price is making them lose Rs 9 for every litre of diesel consumed.

The private bus owners, on the other hand, have not specifically demanded the amount of hike in the fares. They said the state transport ministry should increase the fares keeping in mind that the increased fuel prices and the subsequent losses suffered by them.

“We met Transport Minister Ranjit Kundu and provided him with a detailed list of the increased expenses incurred by the bus in each and every route. Now, the government should decide the fare hike accordingly,” said Sadhan Das, general secretary of Joint Council of Bus Syndication.

According to him, the diesel prices have soared by Rs 6.36 per litre since August 2009. “We are incurring a loss of about Rs 9,000 per vehicle per month on an average. We had written to the minister in April to lift the sales tax on the the petro-products. But nothing was done. We have no other way but to demand a fare hike now,” said Swarnakamal Saha, president of Bengal Bus Syndicate.

The bus owners said that the rise in prices of petroleum products like brake oil, grease and mobil is also pinching them.

Meanwhile, the state transport minister, indicated that he was not willing to take any decision on fiare hike in haste.

“Earlier appeals of fare hike were not granted because the price hikes were negligible. But this was a huge hike. I am looking into the matter and trying to take everyone’s views into consideration, though I am not promising anything yet,” said Ranjit Kundu.