Private buses plying through the newly installed toll booth at Panniyankara on the National Highway 544 launched an indefinite strike from Monday. The strike was in protest against the high toll rates being levied from the buses.
About 150 buses conducting services from Thrissur to Palakkad, Govindapuram and Kozhinjampara joined the strike under the banner of the Joint Action Council.
Hundreds of passengers were left in the lurch on Monday evening as police stopped the buses that used a track meant for local people at the toll gate. Passengers had helped the buses cross the toll gate through the local track.
Bus Owners Association leaders Jose Kuzhuppil, Bipin Alappatt and Ashok Kumar said that they were forced to resort to an indefinite strike as the police and the NH authorities were unsympathetic to their grievances.
They said the strike would continue if no solution was found at a meeting convened by Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs V. Muraleedharan in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.
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