Agartala, June 1 (TIWN): Agartala faced ruckus in its streets on Sunday as passengers and auto-rickshaw drivers kept engaging in repeated conflicts over abrupt rise of transport fares. The fare hike was made to comply with passenger ceiling set by the state Transport Department, the three-wheeler drivers said.

Transport fares were hiked from Rs. 10 to Rs. 20 per passenger in Anandanagar-Motorstand route, Nagerjala-Motorstand, Nagerjala-GB and all other short distance routes in the city. Passengers blocked the Anandanagar-Motorstand route for nearly one hour this morning as passengers engaged in confrontation with the drivers. Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Manik Lal Das, Officer-in-Charge of Srinagar police station and others rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.

Fares were raised by light and medium weight vehicles like max, cruisers etc raised fares at par in the Agartala-Bishalgarh route from Rs. 11 to Rs. 21. The fare hike resulted in serious trouble to commuters as many were denied to board the vehicles at previous rates. Students, frequently travelling traders faced harassment in cases. The move gave rise to serious discontent among passengers.

Auto-rickshaw drivers engaged in serious altercation with Tomtom drivers later on the day. The clash came soon after passengers were seen boarding Tomtoms which retained the previous fare rate of Rs. 5-Rs. 7 in most routes. Few Tomtom drivers were reported injured from the confrontation.

Asked about his take on the issue, CITU working president Pijush Nag said that the trade union is yet to decide on the issue. “We have come to know that few auto-rickshaw drivers raised fares in some of the routes. We haven’t taken any formal decision on the subject”, Nag said. He added that the trade union would convene urgent meeting soon to reach a consensus over the issue.

The Transport department recently decided to allow only three passengers in three-wheelers with effect from June 01. The order came in close succession of an order from the High Court of Tripura in response to a PIL.