KOTTAYAM:Following talks with Transport Minister Antony Raju late on Monday night, private bus operators in the state called off their indefinite strike that was earlier slated to start from Tuesday. After a nearly two-hour-long meeting, the transport minister told reporters that talks would continue with the representatives of bus operators. A decision on their demands will hopefully be taken by November 18, he said.
“Follow-up talks will be held in the coming days. The government needs to go through various procedural formalities to accept the demands raised by the operators. Bus operators have accepted the request and agreed to withdraw from the strike,” Raju said.
A hike in bus fare, including the students’ fare, and subsidy for diesel are among the major demands raised by the operators. They were incurring huge losses following the sharp increase in the price of diesel, the operators pointed out. While other expenses — like prices of spare parts and tyres — have also increased, the Covid lockdown and the resultant dip in the number of passengers have aggravated the crisis.
They demanded the government raise the minimum charge to Rs 12 and set the minimum concession rate for students at Rs 6. Another demand was to set the fare per kilometre at Rs 1. Earlier, the government had put in place all arrangements to counter the proposed strike by asking the KSRTC to operate maximum schedules possible.