Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Nov 20: People who often commute between the two cities of Mangaluru and Kasargod are now compelled to shell out additional money on Kerala section of the travel.

After a long delay, Kerala has allowed buses from Karnataka state to make trips to the towns located near the border. But it has increased fare by 20 per cent for the portion of the travel which falls within that state. It has sought to make the people poorer at a time when they have already been hit by coronavirus infection.

There has been no change in the ticket fare between Mangaluru and Talapady on the state border. But the fare between Talapady and Kasargod has seen Rs 11 hike. The ticket price between Kasargod and Mangaluru, which was Rs 57 earlier as been increased to Rs 68.

An organization, 'Sahayatri' had sent objections by tweet to both the Kerala and Karnataka transport corporation for the hike in fares. Responding in Twitter, Karnataka KSRTC divisional traffic controller said that Kerala government bus fares have been hiked and as per the agreement entered into with that body Karnataka government bus fares have also gone up.

Kasargod district BJP committee has opposed the fare hike resorted to by Kerala government. "Welcome to the Kerala model. Kerala government has given a special gift to the daily Kasargod commuters. On this occasion of Covid, this move is regrettable and shameful," said BJP Kasargod district president, K Srikanth.

At present, about 60 per cent of the buses which used to move between these two cities before the corona lockdown, are moving now. On Thursday, 58 Karnataka buses moved on this road. Compared to the rush the buses had in the past now the number of passengers is less. However, there is improvement every day, said Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation's Kasargod traffic controller, Shantaram.