The passengers are bound to face problems from Wednesday midnight as all three major unions of Uttarakhand roadways have resolved to halt operation of the State carrier. These unions are demanding immediate cessation on plying of illegal vehicles in the state. It is worth mentioning here that the roadways administration has imposed Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) which prohibits strike in the organisation. The enforcement of ESMA seems to have no impact on the roadways unions; they have constituted a united forum on single point agenda of reining in these illegal operators who apart from eating into government revenues are putting the lives of passengers at risk.
In protest against illegal operators a BJP leader and operator of a contract vehicle Ved Prakash Mahawar started a hunger strike at the campus of Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT) on Monday. His hunger strike has brought all the major unions of the roadways on one forum.
The three unions which have threatened work boycott are Uttarakhand Roadways Sanyukt Parishad (URSP), Uttarakhand Roadways Employee Union (UREU) and Uttarakhand Roadways Karamchari Union (URKU). The biggest union of the private taxi operators, the Doon Taxi Drivers Association has also decided to extend support to the call and declared that its taxis would also cease their operation.
The General Secretary of the URSP, Ram Chandra Raturi said that the illegal operators are bleeding the earning of roadways to tune Rs 30 lakh per day. He said that in demand of action on illegal operators is old one and all the unions have now joined hands in protest.
The General Secretary of the UREU, Ravi Pachori also expressed the support of his organization and said that now it is high time that the government take action on these operators. Giving an example of how state action on illegal operators help generate revenue, General Secretary of the URKU , Ashok Chaudhary said that Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh has started a campaign against these vehicles due to which the revenue of state roadways has shot up by almost 30 percent. He said that the 35- 40 percent seats in the buses of Uttarakhand roadways remain unoccupied due to which the state carrier suffers losses. On question of imposition of ESMA, the union leader said that it does not take away the democratic right of protest from the workers. Further we are embarking on work boycott and we have served its notice to the authorities, he informed.
The Uttarakhand Roadways has a fleet of about 1300 buses. Its daily cash flow is more than is Rs 1.25 crore with a transport capacity of 1.40 lakh passengers.
