The Hindu : Private bus stir from tomorrow as talks fail

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 21, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Private bus stir from tomorrow as talks fail

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JAN. 20. The talks between the Government and the private bus operators held here today to discuss the demand for hike in bus fares has failed and the organisations of the bus operators have decided to go ahead with the proposed State-wide indefinite strike from January 22.

The general secretary of the Kerala State Bus Operators Organisation, T. Gopinath, said that the Transport Minister, R. Balakrishna Pillai, was not ready to give any assurance on the demands raised by the private bus operators during the talks. "We have decided to go ahead with the indefinite State-wide stir from Thursday. The joint action council of private bus operators will meet at Thrissur tomorrow," he added.

The private bus operators are demanding an increase in the minimum fare from the present Rs.2 to Rs.3, increase in the kilometre rate from the present 35 paise to 50 paise and a reduction in the sales tax on diesel from the present 24 per cent to 17 per cent.

Official sources said that the Transport Minister asked for three months to look into the demands and implement the K.V. Ravindran Nair Commission report. However, Mr. Gopinath said that the Minister was not ready to provide any relief to the bus operators, who were facing all sort of crises in view of the hike in the price of diesel.

Besides Mr. Pillai, the Transport Secretary, G. Rajasekharan, the Transport Commissioner, K.P. Somarajan, and the Managing Director of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation, C. Apukuttan Nair, participated in the talks. In addition to Mr. Gopinath, the general secretary of the Kerala State Bus Operators Federation, Khalid Mundapally, represented the private bus operators in the talks.

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