The joint panel of bus owners’ associations in the State will keep off the road on October 31 raising various demands including the revision of student concession in tune with the revised bus fares implemented in the State from May 2022. The bus owners also registered their protest at unilaterally implementing reforms causing additional financial burdens for them, such as making mandatory seat belts and compulsory installation of surveillance cameras on buses.
The joint panel also threatened to go on an indefinite strike from November 21 if the authorities were not keen enough to bring in the necessary measures to address their concerns. The bus owners alleged that the State had been delaying the student concession issue despite the Ramachandran Commission’s suggestion to increase the student concession in tune with general fares. In spite of the commission’s suggestion, the State tried to delay the proposal by appointing another panel headed by Planning Board member K. Ravi Raman to study and submit a report in six months, they accused.
Further, the State has been turning private limited-stop buses into ordinary buses, apart from stopping the permits of private buses that operate beyond 140 km. The representatives of the bus owners’ joint panel also called on Transport Minister Antony Raju and gave a strike notice.
