The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) has started a signature campaign for subsidised rates for BEST bus services for degree college students.
The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) has started a signature campaign for subsidised rates for BEST bus services for degree college students. The students’ union has claimed that a rise in bus fares has hit students from middle-class families the hardest and concessions should hence be provided.
Nikhil Kamble, the vice-president of the Mumbai wing of the NSUI, said he had received numerous complaints from students regarding the bus fares being increased, which put a dent in their wallet. “The minimum fare for BEST buses has been raised to Rs 8. Thousands of students regularly use the services to go from a train station to their college and back. On an average, they spend nearly Rs 100 per week, which is unaffordable for some of them, especially those who belong to middle and lower middle-class families,” Mr Kamble said.
He added that there are approximately 6.5 lakh students studying in various higher education courses such as arts, science, commerce, law, engineering and technology in various colleges affiliated to the University of Mumbai. Of them, Mr Kamble said, almost 40 per cent used BEST services and hence deserved to get concessions.
“BEST offers concessions to students up to class XII, so why not extend it to degree college students as well Since we started the signature campaign on August 10 demanding that concessional fares be extended to higher education students too, we have collected around 5,000 signatures and plan to continue the campaign till the end of the month,” Mr Kamble said.
BEST standing committee member Ravi Raja, while admitting to the financial strain students are undergoing due to the increased fares, said, “BEST is already running huge losses and despite the monthly pass scheme, it has not been able to increase its passenger base. The committee has already received a proposal regarding reducing fares by Rs 2 for students. We anticipate that though this would decrease revenue, the increased passenger traffic will make up for the revenue loss. Since BEST is already providing concessional fares till class XII, there is no harm in extending it for degree college students too,” Mr Raja said.
He added that the committee was mulling over the proposal and a decision in this regard is expected by the end of the month. He said that the committee would also definitely be taking cognisance of the outcome of NSUI’s signature campaign.
