Left-affiliated student organisations – the Students' Federation of India (SFI) – and the All India Students' Federation (AISF), and the Congress's Kerala Students Union (KSU) have come out strongly against Kerala Transport Minister Antony Raju over his remarks on student concession in buses. This comes after the minister made a controversial statement that even the students feel embarrassed at the minimum charge of Rs 2 that they are paying for bus charges, during a press interaction on Sunday, March 13.
The minister said that a hike for bus ticket charges is imminent and that the student concession amount will also be hiked. According to reports, the minister had said, “The demand of private bus owners to revise the bus charges is fair. They have also sought revision of student concession, which was last revised in 2012. Before and after school hours, students normally outnumber other passengers and private buses sustain a loss. A fare hike was more important for the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation than private buses.” He added that discussions were needed before revising the fares and the final decision would be taken with utmost care.
The SFI, the student wing of the ruling CPI(M) of which the present state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was the state president, said, "The minister should not have made such a statement. The student concession is the rights of the students and it is not a benevolence of the government." The AISF, the student wing of the CPI, also came out heavily against the minister and conducted a protest march in Thiruvananthapuram against the statement of the minister.
The KSU said that the concession was the right of the students. Its state president KM Abijit told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram that the KSU will never allow the government to hike the minimum bus fare for students from Rs 2 and said that bus concession was the right of the student community.
The minister also clarified that some of his sentences taken out of context had sparked the controversy. “The Transport department has been trying to reduce the students’ fare to the maximum. A free ride for below poverty line (BPL) students was being considered by the state government,” he said and added that he will be talking to the SFI leaders regarding the protests, reported The Hindu.
The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) government led by the CPI(M) is meeting at the party headquarters at AKG Centre, on Tuesday, March 15, to finalise the hike in bus fares.
(With IANS inputs)