Bhubaneswar: After getting assurance from the State Government, All Odisha Bus Owners’ Association put their proposed strike till October 31.
The All Odisha Bus Owners’ Association had called for the State-wide indefinite strike from October 10 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.
Senior officials of State Government including Chief Minister Secretary VK Pandian, Transport Commissioner Amitabh Thakur and Mo Bus MD Arun Bothra held a meeting with the office bearers of the Association here today. After the meeting, the Association has decided to put their strike on hold till October 31.
Speaking to media persons, Bus Association General Secretary Debendra 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.
“We will be largely affected if the Government runs bus services from block to district headquarter towns. So, the association has requested the State Government to include the private buses under the scheme to boost communication between block headquarters and district headquarters,” Shri Sahu claimed.
“The state government has assured us to look into our demand in this regard. A decision in this regard would be taken at a high-level meeting on October 31,” he said, adding, in view of the Government’s appeal, the strike was put on hold till October 31.
Sahu also informed that the State Government will constitute a committee to look into all issues raised by the association with regard to the Mo Bus scheme. The first meeting of the Committee is scheduled to be held on October 13.
He also claimed that the state government has agreed to their demand to provide permits to old buses and extend the deadline for fitment of Vehicle Location Tracking Device (VLTD) and panic buttons by another year.
