Bus fare hike: DMK calls for bandh on Jan 28

Welcoming members of other parties who joined the DMK at Anna Arivalyam, Stalin said the DMK would not stop with the January 27 agitation and it would hold bandh and jail bharao protests on the aforesaid dates if the AIADMK regimes refuses to pay heed to the public outcry and withdraw bus fare hike. 

Earlier in the day, writing to the CM in this regard, Stalin said the double standard of the ruling party has been exposed by it citing court order to hike bus fare, while the same government had approached the Supreme Court in protest of the court interfering in the policy 

decisions of the government. 

As per the policy note for 201718 fiscal tabled in the State Assembly, fuel and maintenance only account for 28.7 and three percentile of the operational expenses of transport corporations respectively, Stalin said, questioning the reasons cited for the hike. 

Stating that the financial distress of the transport corporations could be overcome by operating new routes and buying new buses, Stalin said the hike defeats the purpose of nationalization of buses which was done during the DMK regime of the distant past and it affects the lives and livelihood of ordinary people.