Bhubaneswar: After getting assurance from the Government, the All Odisha Bus Owners’ Association put their indefinite strike on hold till October 31.
The All Odisha Bus Owners’ Association today morning launched their State-wide indefinite strike in protest the Government’s move to launch Location-Accessible Multimodal Initiative (LAccMI) to provide affordable transportation for people from Gram Panchayat level to Block, Blocks to District Headquarters and Districts to Bhubaneswar.
After holding a meeting with Transport Minister Tukuni Sahu and Transport Commissioner Amitabh Thakur, the Association called off their strike till October 31.
Speaking to media persons, Association General Secretary Debendra Sahu claimed that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today announced that LAccMI buses will not play from block to district headquarter towns. And there will be no such bus services launched till this month end. “So, we have decided to put our strike on hold till October 31,” Shri Sahu said.
The State Government has planned to operate about 1,600 buses under the LAccMI scheme. Altogether 1,000 buses will be engaged to connect the gram panchayats with block headquarters and 600 buses to connect the block headquarters with district headquarters.
Passenger bus services across Odisha were hit this morning as the apex private bus owners’ association launched its “indefinite” strike in protest against the State Government’s policy over plying on certain routes.
Nearly 14,000 private buses remained off the streets as part of the agitation, which began at 6 AM, after talks between the association and government failed to resolve the issue, officials said.
Hundreds of passengers, travelling to their hometowns for the Durga Puja festivities from the state, were seen waiting in long queues at different bus stands and terminals since early morning.