LAHORE, Sept 21: The Punjab government on Wednesday notified an increase of four paisa per kilometre in public transport fares for inter-city routes and Re1 per stage on urban routes. The minimum fare for urban routes has been fixed at Rs6 and maximum was raised to Rs13.
Bus fare for metalled roads has been increased from paisa 41 to paisa 45 per kilometre. Fare of buses plying on ‘katcha’ roads has been enhanced from paisa 42 to paisa 46 per kilometre. Bus fare for roads in hill tracts has been raised from paisa 43 to paisa 47 per kilometre.
The public transport fare for travel up to four kilometres on urban routes has been increased from Rs5 to Rs6. Fare for four to eight kilometre travel has been increased from Rs6 to Rs7 and eight to 14 kilometre from Rs7 to Rs8.
Passengers travelling 14 to 18 kilometres will have to pay Rs9 instead of Rs8 and fare for travel between 18 kilometre and 22 kilometre has been raised from Rs9 to Rs10.
Fare for 22 to 26 kilometre travel has been raised from Rs10 to Rs11 and more than 26 kilometre journey from Rs12 to Rs13.
LPG price: The LPG Association of Pakistan has expressed inability to reduce prices and asked the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority to analyze the price pattern on a monthly basis.
Reacting to the OGRA’s concern in respect of increase in a gas cylinder price from Rs250 to Rs450 at its recent meeting, association spokesman Irfan Khokhar said prices continued fluctuating throughout the year in accordance with the increase and decrease in consumption.
The prices had dipped as low as Rs250 per cylinder during the last year resulting in negative margins. The prices had not increased significantly over the last 12 months if judged on a year-to-year basis, he said.
He said all LPG marketing companies notified ex-plant prices to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, but it had no control over the prices in the retail market. The LPG companies were not being given any subsidy by the government like subsidies of Rs62 billion being given to the petroleum sector, he said.
Foodstuffs: The government has evolved a strategy to ensure availability of foodstuffs during Ramazan.
Punjab Agriculture Marketing Minister Rana Qasim Noon said this while talking to reporters at the Civil Secretariat here on Wednesday.
The minister said market committees had been directed to organize Sunday and Ramazan bazaars in all cities and towns for the availability of fruits, vegetables and other essential commodities at concessional rates.
He said Utility Stores and Co-op stores would also reduce the prices while special committees would be constituted for monitoring the prices.
The government, he said, was paying special attention to improvement in marketing of agricultural produce. Farmers were being induced to sell their produce directly in the market instead of the middleman to get better prices.
The government had also issued instructions for improving sanitary arrangements in the fruit and vegetable markets, he said.