The Hindu : Front Page : Truck strike off; but bus stir from August 8

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Thursday, Aug 04, 2005

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Truck strike off; but bus stir from August 8

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: : Private bus operators have threatened to go on an indefinite strike from August 8 even as the Government managed to persuade truckers to call off their three-day-old agitation.

The truckers' strike was withdrawn on the basis of assurances given to their representatives by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Labour Minister Babu Divakaran here on Wednesday.

The Government has also agreed to reduce the rate of the truck owners' contribution to the welfare fund from Rs.350 to Rs.200 an employee a month. The contributions need not be paid in advance.

Even as the truckers were about to sign the agreement with the Government, leaders of the coordination committee of two organisations of bus operators were making a war cry just across the road. While the Government did not have much difficulty in conceding the main demands of the truckers as they did not directly affect its revenue, the demands of the bus operators would be hard to meet. Some of the demands such as compensation for loss due to diesel price hike and tax exemption were unthinkable considering the current financial position of the Government.

The Bus Operators Federation and Organisation Coordination Committee, an apex body of Bus Operators Federation and Bus Operators Organisation, on Wednesday announced that private buses plying in the State would commence their indefinite strike from August 8.

The private bus operators are resorting to indefinite strike demanding immediate steps to compensate the loss due to the hike in the price of diesel, increase in bus fare, hike in students concession to 50 per cent, exemption from the vehicle tax that is to be paid before August 14 and stopping the granting of new bus permits.

General secretary of the bus operators organisation T. Gopinathan and general secretary of the Bus Operators Federation M. S. Prem Kumar, in a release, said the other demands put forward included declaration of the private bus service as an industry and implementation of the Ravindran Nair Commission report.

The committee also demanded a policy to end the competition between private and KSRTC buses, amendments to the Motor Workers Welfare Fund and an end to the harassment from the police and the Motor Vehicle Department.

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