Odisha Govt and Operators talks fail; Bus Strike from Dec 1

Bhubaneswar, Nov 27: Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association members decided to go on strike from December 1 as talks between its representatives  and  Odisha government failed on Friday here.

Transport Minister Ramesh Majhi and Urban Development Minister Pushpendra Singh Deo held meeting with representatives of the association on Friday here at State Secretariat. They discussed over the ‘motor vehicle tax hike’, a bone of contention, but did not reach as a result talks reportedly failed. Following failure of the talks, the members are stick to go on strike from December 1.

The bus owners have been opposing hike in the motor vehicle tax as decided by the Odisha cabinet recently.  Besides this issue, they have been also opposing the city buses linking services in three cities –Bhubaneswar, Puri and Cuttack by Dream Team Sahara (DTS). The city bus linking services to these cities are started under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, a central government’s scheme.

During the talks, the representatives of the association apprised the ministers that due to the linking services by DTS, private bus operators have been incurring heavy losses.