KOCHI: Hundreds of inter-state luxury private buses operating between Kerala and neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka stayed off the road as bus operators started an indefinite strike on Monday evening, citing “tax and fine harassment” by officials there. To lessen commuters’ woes, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation started operating additional services from Monday night.
“We have deployed over 20 additional services to Bengaluru alone from various depots, chiefly in the northern parts of the state like Kozhikode and Kannur. The buses are running full. We are planning to run 45 to 50 additional services on Tuesday, based on demand,” said a senior KSRTC official in charge of the operations.
According to him, the Karnataka RTC and the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation too have started deploying additional services. The KSRTC will deploy more buses based on the booking requirements.
“The Ernakulam-Bengaluru Vande Bharat is also starting regular services from Tuesday,” the official pointed out.
“The services will be fully stopped from Tuesday. The bus belonging to our association secretary was seized by the Karnataka authorities on Monday and levied a fine of nearly Rs 1.65 lakh. So we are having concern in operating the services unless the issue is discussed and resolved at the government level,”said A J Rijas, president of Luxury Bus Owners Association, Kerala Chapter.
The bus operators in Tamil Nadu, who first launched a strike alleging “illegal” tax and fine levying by the Kerala authorities, decided to continue their strike after talks with the Tamil Nadu Transport Minister failed, Rijas added.