Kolkata: Commuters were inconvenienced as private buses remained off the roads on Monday. However, government buses plied in full strength in 135 routes in the city and the suburbs. "We are not running private buses due to spiraling diesel prices and the state governments directive to allow only sitting capacity passengers due to COVID-19 norms. Ticket sales are not enough to even pay for the fuel cost. We want fare hike," said Tapan Banerjee, general secretary of Joint Council of Bus Syndicates. He said that there are 42,000 private buses in the state and 6,000 private buses used to ply in the city during the pre lock down period. "Around 500 buses were plying on the roads on Monday morning. But in the afternoon all stopped plying," said Banerjee. Earlier, the state government had offered to pay a monthly dole of Rs 15,000 each to 6,000 private buses only for three months. "We have calculated that this amount of money will not fulfill our loss. Private bus fare hike is the only solution," Pradip Narayan Bose, secretary of West Bengal Bus and Mini Bus Owners Association. According to sources, the North Bengal Transport Corporation (NBSTC) also ran buses. While about 25 NBSTC buses were run on Monday, the number will increase further from Tuesday.

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