THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Justice Ramachandran Commission has given interim report to the government with the recommendation to increase the bus charge in order to resolve the crisis in transport sector. In the interim recommendation made in the wake of Covid times, there is also suggestion to decrease the distance that a passenger can travel on minimum charge.

Currently, a passenger can travel up to 5 km by paying the minimum charge. The recommendation is for decreasing this to 2.5 km and bringing in the charge hike. The report suggests 30pc fare hike for ordinary services, 40pc for services above that and 50 pc for services even above that.

The report is interim as the recommendation is only for helping the transport sector out of the present financial crisis following the lockdown.
However, the final report is not yet ready.

Justice Ramachandran Commission handed over the recommendation to Transport secretary on Thursday night.

The transport minister and higher officials will discuss the report on Friday morning. After this, the transport department will hand over the recommendation to the chief minister.