The government yesterday formed a high-powered committee to set the fare of CNG-run passenger buses running in Dhaka and Chittagong as the bus operators refused to accept the fare fixed by a previously formed committee. After a series of meetings with different stakeholders, a sub- committee of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) had earlier proposed the fare for one-kilometre journey at Tk 0.98. The transport leaders, however, demanded fixing Tk 1.71 per kilometre, almost double the recommended fare. Following the discord, a meeting at the communications ministry chaired by Communications Adviser Ghulam Quader yesterday formed a nine-member committee to set the fare in five working days. M Shahjahan, Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (DTCB) executive director, will head the committee, which draws other members from BRTA, BRTC, Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL), Bus Truck Owners' Association (BTOA), Association of Bus Companies (ABC) and communications ministry. The committee will submit its recommendation after studying the cost of living and whether the commuters can afford to pay increased fare as well as investment and operating costs of the buses. Though the CNG-run buses started plying Dhaka streets about five years ago, no fare had been fixed for them officially. These buses have been charging the same as the fuel-run buses, though they use CNG, which costs much less than diesel. The CNG-bus operators have been demanding a hike in the bus fares as the government raised the price of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to Tk 16.75 from Tk 8.5 a cubic metre on April 24. Many of them started charging extra fares, despite a government order against doing so. Some of the CNG-run bus operators also threatened to stop their services when the government on April 26 raised the fare of CNG-run three-wheelers and taxicabs, but ordered the buses to continue the previous rates. Talking to the reporters yesterday, Communications Secretary Dr Mahbubur Rahman said that the transport owners did not agree to go in line with the BRTA proposal adding that the fare for the diesel-run buses is Tk 0.87 per kilometre at present. Leaders of BTOA and ABC attended yesterday's meeting with the communications adviser. The secretary and other high officials of the communications ministry, BRTA, BRTC (Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation), DTCB and Dhaka City Corporation were also present. The bus owners insisted on raising the fare citing a rise in transport operation cost apart from the hike of CNG price. "They're saying that they have some "unseen' costs like damage during agitation programmes,' said an official who attended the meeting.