MITHI, May 3: Commuters in Thar on Friday complained of having to pay exaggerated fares despite the sharp decrease in diesel prices and the Sindh government’s directives to reduce the urban and inter-city transport tariff.

A number of commuters told this correspondent that the transporters had been defying the government’s decision by charging Rs60 for a 90-kilometre-long journey between Mithi and Umerkot while they had been binded by the government to charge 37 paisa per kilometre on metalled roads.

They said that the bus operators should charge Rs33.3 for the same route.

Similarly, the fare for a distance below 115 kilometres (for example Islamkot-Umerkot route) should have been Rs42.5, but passengers were being charged Rs80 for the same.

Commuters, they said, had to pay Rs90 for a 200-kilometre- long journey between Mithi and Hyderabad while the fare should not have been over Rs74.

They said that instead of charging Rs14.80 on Mithi-Islamkot route (a distance barely over 40 kilometres), the bus operators were charging Rs25 per passenger.

Similarly, they said, passengers had to pay Rs18.5 for the 50-kilometre-long route between Mithi and Naokot or Mithi to Diplo, instead of the government-fixed fare of Rs25.

Higher fares, they said, were also being charged on other routes.

Criticizing the transporters, they said that the bus operators had no sympathy for the people of the Thar region, who had been reeling under the impact of a persistent drought for the past four years.

They said that it was very difficult for the calamity-hit Tharis to travel even in emergencies, adding that the apathy of the officials towards the exorbitant transport fares was regrettable.

Appealing to the Sindh governor and the provincial chief secretary to take remedial measures.