Odisha Bus Owners Put On Hold Proposed State-Wide Strike After Talks With Govt

Bhubaneswar: The private bus owners on Monday announced their decision to put on hold the indefinite strike they had planned to launch across Odisha from Tuesday following talks with the state government.

This was announced by the All Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association after a meeting of its steering committee. The proposed strike by the private bus operators has been put on hold till October 31, general secretary of the Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association Deberndra Sahu said after the steering committee meeting.

He said the state government has agreed to provide permits to old buses and extend the deadline for fitment of VLDT and panic buttons by another year.

While the government has promised that there will be no extension of Mo Bus, a review meeting on the demand for financial assistance will be held on October 13, he said.

As the government is not operating buses from block to district, it has been decided to postpone the proposed strike till October 31, Sahu said.

On the state government’s decision to launch affordable transportation for people across the state under the location-accessible multimodal initiative (LAccMI), he said they do not have any problem with the government running buses in rural areas from panchayat to blocks. The government has procured 1600 buses for this purpose.

Private bus owners have requested the government to include their buses under the scheme. The fares and other issues will be finalised in the next 20 days, he said. The state government has been urged to use the same colour as used by it under LAccMI.

Earlier in the day, officials of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) held a meeting with the Association leaders to discuss their demands in a bid to prevent the stir.

Describing the meeting with the CMO as ‘fruitful,” the Association has said that a final decision on the proposed strike would be announced after the steering committee meeting.

Stating that the meeting yielded positive results, he had said the government has promised to consider the demands of the private bus owners.

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 LAccMI.