Private Bus Operators Call Off Strike in South and Western Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Private bus owners’ associations of western and southern Odisha called off their strike call from Monday evening following a discussion with Odisha Commerce and Transport Minister Bibhuti Bhushan Jena.

The minister held a meeting with the bus owners’ associations in Berhampur to discuss their demands.

Private bus operators had threatened to stop plying their buses from 6 pm on Monday for 24 hours in Western Odisha and Southern Odisha. They had called up this strike to protest against the operation of the LAccMi bus services in the State. All Odisha Private Bus Owners Association has been supporting the strike call by the associations in southern and western Odisha.

This private bus strike was to continue in 14 districts of Odisha. The Private Bus Owners’ Association of southern and western Odisha have been protesting against the state government’s decision regarding the introduction of tier-II buses under the Location Accessible Multi-modal Initiative (LAccMI) scheme. The state government is planning to launch bus services from blocks to the district headquarters across Odisha under the tier-II LAccMI.

A private bus owners claim that they will incur huge losses if the state government launches affordable public transport services from the blocks to district headquarters under LAccMI tier-II.