KOCHI: The Contract Carriage Operators’ Association (CCOA) has called for an indefinite relay hunger strike demanding government aid to help them tide over the pandemic-induced crisis. The CCOA committee members and those associated with the sector will go on a 72-hour strike in front of the Secretariat from Wednesday till Friday. It will be extended if the demands are not met. According to vehicle owners who operate contract carriages, they have been struggling to make ends meet.
Though tourist spots have opened up, most of them claim there is no respite in terms of earnings. They want the state government to waive off taxes till March. “I have around 13 vehicles. I need to pay Rs 3.5 lakh as tax for three quarters. Earlier, the government had waived off the tax till December. We agreed to it hoping things would become normal after that. Though we were getting bookings since December, the omicron scare and related restrictions have ruined things once again,” shares Bajy
Joseph, owner of Platinum Tours and the Ernakulam district vice-president of CCOA. The members have also demanded avoiding unnecessary fines imposed on the contract carriage operators. They have asked to set all their CIBIL scores at 400 to make them eligible for the rehabilitation loan through Kerala Bank.