Pvt bus operators call for 3-day strike in March

Five private bus operators organisations in Bengal on Thursday called for a three-day shutdown of services in the middle of March to press for their demand for an extension of the 15-year deadline for scrapping diesel commercial vehicles.

General Secretary of West Bengal Bus and Minibus Owners’ Association Pradip Narayan Bose said public transport facilities would be withdrawn in the state between March 18 and 20. The operators demanded that the tenure of stage carriages, which are set to cross the 15-year time frame by 2024, be extended by another two years immediately.

“We have made a justified demand as our buses were mostly off the roads due to the Covid situation and lockdown during a greater phase of 2020-2022 and both employees and owners went through serious financial crisis,” Tapan Bandyopadhyay of Joint Council of Bus Syndicate said on Wednesday.