KARACHI, Aug 6: Although a notification for an increase in public transport fares is yet to be issued, some transporters have arbitrarily increased the fares following the recent hike in the prices of petroleum products.

Public transport operators’ organisations have been demanding issuance of the notification for a couple of weeks and in a meeting held here on Wednesday, they have also warned of a strike on Aug 8 if the government delayed its issuance further.

However, commuters, mainly belonging to the working class, are demanding a relief through withdrawal of the increase in fuel prices, maintaining that the oil prices in the international market had come down considerably.

Many commuters talking to this reporter stated that they had already been charged increased fares since the fresh hike in the fuel prices last month. “Many transport operators, especially those of coaches and mini-buses, did not wait for the notification of the revised fares and are charging Rs2 to Rs3 more than the previously notified fares,” said a commuter.

A newspaper employee said: “Since the rise in fuel prices was announced, coach operators have been extorting commuters. Earlier, I used to pay Rs14 for Malir to Cantt Station travel in Muslim coach. Recently, I was forced to pay the same amount of fare in the same coach for a much shorter distance — Nursery to Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road.”

Operators of mini-buses are also reportedly charging exorbitant fares and, according to some commuters, the minimum fare being charged is Rs9. “I travelled in an F-5 mini-bus from Malir Halt for a distance that covers only two stops and I was charged Rs9. In a conservative and lawless society like ours, women generally prefer to keep quiet and pay whatever is being demanded,” a housewife said.

Some other commuters, however, protested that ticket collectors just didn’t return the balance amount. “It’s entirely up to the ticket collectors what they want to charge. If you give them Rs20, they will return the balance amount after deducting the raised fare.”

Fares of rickshaws and taxis, they said, were also arbitrarily decided by their drivers. “They demand exorbitant fares for a small distance. Everybody knows that fuel prices have increased, but who will decide the “reasonable fare,” said an affected commuter.

When contacted, Karachi Transport Ittehad (KTI) chief Irshad Hussain Bokhari said that by and large there were no violations of the “agreement” between transporters’ organisations and the provincial transport minister reached on July 23.

“We are still waiting for a notification. The chief minister has since returned home from his foreign visit and we are expecting that the notification will be issued in a day or two,” he said, adding that transporters would observe a strike on Aug 8 if it was not done by then.

No official of the provincial transport department was available for comments.

The delay in the issuance of a notification for fare rise has reportedly been caused by the absence of the chief minister, as he had to give his approval to the summary of the revised fares.