Bus Owners Describe Talks With Odisha Govt ‘Fruitful’; Steering Committee To Decide On Strike Plan

Bhubaneswar: Amid plans by private bus owners to launch an indefinite strike across Odisha from Tuesday, officials of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) held a meeting with their leaders on Monday to discuss their demands in a bid to prevent the stir.

Describing the meeting as ‘fruitful,” general secretary of the Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association Debendra Sahu told reporters that a final decision on the proposed strike will be announced after the steering committee meeting.

Stating that the meeting yielded positive results, he said the government has promised to consider the demands of the private bus owners. Sahu said the association is seeking a written assurance from the government that their demands will be fulfilled.

As of now, the agitation plan stands, he said, adding that the whole issue will be discussed at the steering committee and the next course of action will be announced thereafter.

The Association had called for an indefinite strike across the state from Tuesday over various demands. The bus owners had earlier opposed the Odisha government’s decision to launch affordable transportation for people across the state under the location-accessible multimodal initiative (LAccMI).

The association members have earlier said to have given a proposal to the state government to allow their buses to operate in rural pockets under the new initiative.

Meanwhile, Congress announced its support for the state-wide strike called by the private bus owners against the State government’s Location Accessible Multimodal Initiative (LAccMI) scheme.

Hitting out at Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Sarat Pattanayak questioned the launch of the scheme by the state government. The Chief Minister is in the habit of announcing various schemes whenever elections approach to mislead people for votes, he said.

Accusing the Chief Minister of not bothering about the people, the PCC chief said that apart from the bus owners, many others, including Sarpanches, teachers, GRS, and Anganwadi workers have been staging protests over their demands. All these show that the state government has failed to look after their interests, he claimed.

The state government should have verified the data of other states and held a discussion with the private bus owners before announcing the scheme, said Pattanayak.

It may be noted here that the Odisha government has launched the LAccMI scheme to run buses from panchayats to blocks, blocks to district headquarters, and from the districts to the state capital. The first phase of operation started on October 2 on Gandhi Jayanti in areas under the undivided Koraput district.

The private operators have alleged that the LAccMI scheme will affect the income of over 8,000 private bus owners and 14,000 employees and their families