No Breakthrough In Impasse Over Plying Of Private Buses In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The private bus owners continued to stick to their stand of not plying the passenger vehicles until they have a meeting with the state government on Monday.

Though the government has allowed the private commercial vehicles to run amid lockdown, All Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association has expressed its inability to resume the intra-state service.

Talking to mediapersons, secretary of the association Barada Acharya said that the government has not discussed the problems faced by the association till date.

“As the buses have been lying idle due to lockdown, those are not in a running condition. Besides, the drivers and helpers have gone to their villages. Under the circumstances, we are not in a position to run our buses,” Acharya said.

In his reaction to the announcement by the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) that the buses can run with full capacity, he said they cannot prevent the passengers from forcibly boarding the bus as it will create unpleasant situation.

“These issues should be discussed threadbare between the association and the government. We doubt whether the charter of demands we had submitted to the government has reached the Chief Minister. Until we have a meeting with the Chief Minister, it is not possible for us to run our buses,” Acharya maintained.

Asked about the demands of the association, Commerce and Transport Minister Padmanabha Behera said the private bus owners will not incur loss as the government has allowed them to carry passengers to the full capacity of the buses.

On the waiver of road tax as demanded by the association, he said the government is actively considering the demand. “The government has decided not to collect road tax from the private buses till June. Other demands are under active consideration,” the minister said.