With the hike in fuel prices, the inter-province fares of public transport and cargo have gone up.

According to a notice published by the Department of Transport Management on Monday, the public transport fare has been increased by 1.97 percent.

Similarly, for cargo carriers plying on the inter-provincial Tarai and hills routes, the fare has been hiked by 2.6 percent and 2.34 percent respectively.

The department allowed the transport entrepreneurs to hike the prices after Nepal Oil Corporation increased the prices of petroleum products last week.

On July 5, the corporation had hiked the price of diesel by Rs9 per liter to Rs172 per liter. Similarly, the cost of petrol was increased by Rs2 per liter to Rs181 per liter.

The government, on April 30, decided to implement an automated pricing system for the transportation sector.

Under the system, the government, which regulates the fares, can revise the rates when the prices of petroleum products fluctuate by more than 5 percent. Earlier on June 17, the corporation had hiked the price of petrol by Rs21 to Rs199 and diesel price by Rs26 to Rs192, which was the highest hikes made ever.

In response, the department also hiked passenger fares by 5.30 percent.

Later, after widespread criticism, the government had slashed the fuel prices within less then a week.

Subsequently, the department also reduced the freight charges and public transport fares in response to the reduction in fuel prices.

Fares on public transport plying on inter-provincial routes were slashed by 5.41 percent. The freight charges of the cargo carriers plying on the hills route had come down 6.97 percent and that in the Tarai by 7.68 percent.