- Around 14,000 private buses remained off the roads as part of the agitation, after talks between the association and government failed to resolve the issue.
- The Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association (OPBOA) has been opposing the running of the State government’s buses from block headquarters to district headquarters under the Location-Accessible Multimodal Initiative (LAccMI) programme.
- Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday launched the LAccMI services for the Gajapati district. Earlier, he had launched the bus services for Malkangiri district.
- Meanwhile, the Odisha Transport Minister appealed to the private bus owners to call off the strike in view of the Durga Puja festival.
Thousands of passengers faced a harrowing time across Odisha on Friday as the apex private bus owners’ association launched its ‘indefinite’ strike in protest against the State government’s policy over plying on certain routes. Passengers, traveling to their hometowns for the Durga Puja festivities, were seen waiting in long queues at different bus stands and terminals since early morning.
According to sources, around 14,000 private buses remained off the roads as part of the agitation, after talks between the association and government failed to resolve the issue.
The Odisha Private Bus owners’ Association (OPBOA) has been opposing running of State government’s buses from block headquarters to district headquarters under the Location-Accessible Multimodal Initiative (LAccMI) programme.
As per the OPBOA president Debendra Sahoo, it was earlier agreed that LAccMI buses will run from gram panchayat headquarters to block headquarters. However, the state government backed out from its promise and operated buses to block headquarters, thus causing serious losses to the private bus owners.
Meanwhile, Odisha Transport Minister Tukuni Sahu had appealed to the private bus owners to call off the strike in view of the Durga Puja festival, but the association remained adamant on its demand and sought a written assurance from the administration.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had earlier this month launched the affordable bus service under LAccMI, which aims to connect all the gram panchayats with the district headquarters and the State Capital.
Under the scheme, the state plans to operate 1,000 buses connecting panchayat-level and block-level destinations to the district headquarters. It will later be extended to the state headquarters and important places of pilgrimage and urban centres.
All Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association secretary Debendra Sahu told media “Our only demand is that the government should not operate the bus service under LAccMI connecting blocks to district headquarters. They can ply the buses only connecting the panchayat to the block headquarters.”
Late on Friday evening, the bus owners had a meeting with the state commerce and transport minister and at the meeting, the state government urged the bus owners to withdraw the strike and agreed to discuss their demands on October 26. The bus owners’ association then decided to put on hold their strike till October 31.
The commuters on Friday vented their anger as they waited for hours to get some transportation facilities to go to their villages during the Puja. “The Puja celebration has begun. The government was earlier informed about the private owners’ decision to go on a strike, but they failed to make adequate arrangements for smooth transportation.
“The government should have deployed more buses to ease the commuters’ trouble,” said Ramakanta Patra, an employee in a private company.
Another commuter alleged that as the private buses remained off the road, the local taxis and autos were charging exorbitant fares.
(With inputs from agencies)
