PALAKKAD: Private buses in the state will go off the road from February 1 as part of an indefinite strike of bus operators to press for several demands, including fare hike, in view of the rise in the price of petroleum products.The decision in this regard was taken at the meet of All-Kerala Bus Operators Coordination Committee which met here on Tuesday.
Raising the minimum fare to `10 and making the minimum charge of students concession to `5 which is 50 per cent of the minimum charge in the wake of the fuel price hike are among the major demands of bus operators.It was three years ago that the bus charge was revised, said T Gopinathan, who is also the general convener of the Coordination Committee.
The other demands include an increase in per km rate from 64 paise to 72 paise, ending concessions to those who are studying in private institutions, automatically renewing permits for buses which run more than 140 km per day, initiating action against parallel services and reducing the tax rate.
The committee office-bearers said there had been an increase of 20 to 100 per cent in the price of fuel and spare parts and therefore they would be unable to operate services without fare hike. They said though the Justice Ramachandran Nair Committee, constituted during the tenure of former Transport Minister Thomas Chandy, had submitted its report, the government had done nothing to remedy the situation.
As a prelude to the state-wide strike, a day and night strike will be staged in front of the Secretariat on January 24.
Committee state president V J Sebastian, All-Kerala Bus Operators Organisation general secretary T Gopi, All-Kerala Bus Operators Forum president Noushad Attumparambath, Kerala State Private Bus Owners and Operators Federation general secretary R Prasad and Inter-state Private Bus Operators Association president Joy Jyothilal attended the meet.