Bus fares, power tariff, milk price go up in TN

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday announced revision of bus fares, power tariff and milk prices, citing the State's poor financial condition. 

In an address televised on a private channel, Jaya TV, and later released to other media, she said mounting debts, the poor condition in which public sector undertakings were left by the previous DMK regime and the Centre's "step-motherly attitude" towards Tamil Nadu forced her to go in for revision of prices.

The State electricity board would file a tariff application before the Electricity Regulatory Commission for revision of power tariff, she said, but made it clear that free power supply for irrigation pumpsets, weavers and dwellings with a single light bulb would not be affected. Further, except those who consume high quantum of power, most domestic consumers would also be protected from tariff revision, and the government would continue to bear the subsidy burden for these categories.

In the transport sector, there was no alternative to an upward revision of fares, Ms. Jayalalithaa said. In ordinary mofussil buses, the ticket price would go up from 28 paise per km to 42 paise, while fares on express and semi-deluxe buses would be raised from 32 paise to 56 paise per km. There would be a corresponding increase in super deluxe (38 paise to 60 paise per km) and ultra deluxe (from 52 to 70 paise) buses.

City bus fares would also go up. The minimum ticket price in cities would go up from Rs 2 to Rs. 3 and the maximum would be Rs 12 instead of Rs. 7. In Chennai, the minimum fare would go up to Rs 3 and the maximum would be Rs. 14. Even after such revision, transport bus fares would be much lower than in other Southern States, Ms. Jayalalithaa said.

She also announced a steep rice in the price of milk supplied by 'Aavin'. The price of toned milk would be revised from Rs. 17.75 paise per litre to Rs 24.

Correspondingly, the procurement price of milk paid to dairy farmers would raised from Rs 18 to Rs 20 per litre for cow's milk and from Rs 26 to Rs 28 per litre for buffalo milk.