Odisha private bus owners' body withdraws proposed strike

Bhubaneswar: The All Odisha Private Bus Owners' Association has withdrawn its proposed indefinite strike from December 1 after getting assurance from the state government regarding its demands.

The bus owners had called for a statewide 'chaka bandh' (cease work) agitation over various demands, and in protest against routes of government buses plying under the Location-Accessible Multimodal Initiative (LAccMI) scheme.

In this regard, a meeting was held between representatives of the association and Transport Minister Tukuni Sahu here on Wednesday.

After the meeting, the association decided to completely withdraw the strike, its general secretary Debendra Sahu.

Speaking to reporters, the minister said the state government is committed to providing transportation facilities to the people at their doorsteps through the LAccMI scheme and the private bus owners don't have any issue with the service.

However, the bus owners have certain concerns, she said.

"The association discussed how they can run their buses on the routes they are operating now, most importantly from the blocks to the district headquarters. They have been asked to submit a written memorandum on the issue, following which their demands will be discussed with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and steps will be taken accordingly," the minister said.

The bus owners have demanded that LAccMI buses should operate between gram panchayats and block headquarters and not to district headquarters, where private buses ply.

The chief minister had in October launched the affordable bus service, which aims to connect all the gram panchayats with the district headquarters and the state capital.

Odisha's road communication is heavily dependent on private buses, with around 14,000 private buses plying the roads against only 2,000 government buses, transport department sources said.