KOZHIKODE: As the strike called by the Inter-state Bus Owners’ Association (IBOA) commenced on Monday, 50 private buses are off the road in Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasargod districts putting passengers into severe hardship.
Except for half a dozen, all other buses are plying to and from Bengaluru. Unlike South Kerala, there is a limited number of inter-state KSRTC buses and trains from Malabar region which makes the matter worse.
On Monday, several persons returned without finding a ticket in the limited inter-state services of Kerala and Karnataka. Many have travelled to Mangaluru to get connection towards Bengaluru.
From Kannur, 30 private buses ply to Bengaluru daily via Makkoottam route. The private bus operators complain that the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) is troubling all of them indiscriminately. “If any violation of rule had taken place in the service of Kallada bus, the officers should act against it. But in the name of Kallada, MVD officers are slapping an exorbitant tax on all of us without any solid reason,” said Sunil Kumar M T, manager of Kalpaka Travels, Kannur.
According to him, officers are slapping a minimum fine of Rs 5,000 daily on each service for some reason or another. “We pay around Rs 1,20,000 to Rs 1,75,000 as tax in each quarter. We have to pay the tax in advance and while remitting the tax, our buses are legal. But despite this, MVD slaps fine saying that the services are illegal,” he said.
People in Kasaragod were not affected much as they board buses from Mangaluru. As many as 16 private services ply daily on the Kozhikode-Bengaluru route.
Kerala state transport corporation daily runs 12 services to Bengaluru and 11 to Mysuru. Karnataka state transport corporation runs seven services to Bengaluru and 11 to Mysuru. Reservation to Bengaluru was optimum in all the services of both the transport corporations on Monday which prompted Kerala SRTC to pitch in two additional services; at 7. 20 pm and at 9.20 pm.
Karnataka ran an additional service in the night charging a staggering `1,050 per seat for ‘Airavat’ bus. “We did not go for a strike in spite of the daily inspections and slapping of fine only because it was vacation time, our peak season.
“Now it is off-season and we cannot afford to pay Rs 5,000 daily to MVD for no reason,” said Mirshaj M, partner of PK Travels in Kozhikode.