Hyderabad, June 08: The private autos which take kids to school, are ready to increase their fares with the rise in petrol prices. With the school season about to start, parents will have to bear the double burden of increased school fees and higher cost of transport for their kids.
With the rise in school fees, parents are worried about sending their kids to ‘good’ schools, now that the school fees have zoomed up to between Rs 25,000 to 1 lakh. “The autorickshaw driver who takes my child to school hasn’t asked for a hike yet, there are chances that he will ask for one. But they already charge as high as Rs 1,500 for a school five kilometers away. This is not fair”, said Ms Jyotipriya from Vijayanagar colony. “There is already a rise in school fees. Since the school buses cost even more, I’m forced to send my child by auto, which costs less. They cannot increase the fares like this,” said K. Alok Singh from Mehdipatnam.
With the rise in fuel prices, people are preferring diesel autos to petrol ones. Autorickshaw drivers also are making sure that they carry as few children as possible, for fear of traffic police. All is not well. Some autos want to hike their fares along with the petrol prices. “The price of essentials has gone up, what is wrong with hiking auto fares? A minimum fare hike should also be considered by the government. After all, we also have to make a living,” said Mr M. Yadayya, an autorickshaw driver. While most of them want to increase the prices, they have another worry — losing their customers.