Rights body Passenger Welfare Association of Bangladesh has demanded reduction in public transport fares as fuel oil prices have dropped.
A statement, signed by the association鈥檚 executive council chairman Mohammad Zakaria and secretary general Md Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury and issued on Sunday, also alleged that transport owners refused to reduce the fares on different pretexts.
Earlier, the government reduced the prices of diesel, octane and petrol, while raising the price of kerosene which came into effect from midnight past Saturday.
According to a notification issued by the Energy and Mineral Resources Division on Saturday, diesel will be cheaper by Tk 2 per litre, while the prices of octane and petrol have been slashed by Tk 3 per litre.
Earlier on May 1 also the government reduced the prices of all types of fuels by Tk 2 per litre.
Fuel prices in Bangladesh are now adjusted monthly under an automated pricing mechanism that reflects changes in the global fuel market.
The Sunday statement of the Passenger Welfare Association read that as the incumbent interim government had reduced fuel prices, public transport fares should also be decreased proportionately.聽
As the global market sees a downturn in fuel oil prices, Bangladesh also sees reduction in fuel prices, the statement reads.
While the government has reduced fuel prices by Tk 1鈥�3, bus owners are reluctant to reduce the fares, the statement alleges, saying that it deprives the public from benefiting from the price reduction.
At the same time, the association alleges, when fuel prices increase, bus owners increase the fares arbitrarily without taking approval from the government.
The statement also mentions that passengers pay fares much higher than the government-fixed bus fares.聽
The association has also criticised the government for not keeping any passenger representative in the bus fare fixation committee.
