“The minister had asked for ten days from us and 15 days from the taxi unions,” said Sadhan Das, president of the Joint Council of Bus Syndicate. “We decided to honour his request.”

According to Das, the minister had admitted that there has been a total hike of Rs 5 per litre of diesel in four phases over the last two years.

Earlier this week, the state government had decided to give the bus owners a Re 1 subsidy on diesel. “But what will happen to the extra Rs 4? We told him that he should allow us to make up for that amount by increasing the fares,” said Das.

Rueing the fact that the taxi owners are running their vehicles at a loss of Rs 9 per litre, Bimal Guha, president of Bengal Taxi Association said: “He (the minister) has to do something. We are demanding that the cess levied on every litre of diesel be decreased and the revenues be decreased too.”

If the demands are not met by August 22, the transport unions might go for an indefinite strike from August 23.