THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As major trade unions gird themselves for the 48-hour national strike that calls to ‘Save the People, Save the Nation’, opposition against the move has cropped from some traders and taxi drivers. The Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithy has asked traders to open as many shops as possible on Monday and Tuesday when trade unions, except pro-BJP BMS, strike work across the state. A few autorickshaws and taxi drivers have taken to social media to announce that they will work on the days of general strike.
However, their efforts are unlikely to succeed as CITU, AITUC and INTUC have already begun grass root level work to ensure that normal life is paralysed from Sunday midnight to Tuesday midnight.As usual, hospitals, media and milk distribution have been exempted from the strike.
“The government hasn’t invited us for discussion. We don’t have any unreasonable demand. We will continue the protest until the fare is hiked,” said T Gopinath, general secretary of the association. He condemned Antony Raju’s statement that the bus operators were waging a war against the public. The bus operators had demanded fare hike several times in the recent past, citing steep increase in the prices of fuel and spare parts. Justice Ramachandran Commission had also recommended a fare hike.
“The minister announced that the government had decided to hike fare. But no attempt has been made to implement it,” Gopinath told reporters in Palakkad. Antony Raju said the decision to increase bus fare has got in-principle approval of the government. “Along with bus fare, fares of autorickshaw and taxi will also be increased.
Government held talks with their unions and they agreed to wait till the LDF meeting. This is a time when examinations are going on. My request to bus owners is to withdraw the strike immediately, without causing more trouble to passengers,” he said.