Private buses in Punjab stayed off the roads on Tuesday as their operators were on a one-day strike against the alleged failure of the AAP government to fulfil their demands, including waiver of tax for the COVID-19 pandemic period.
The bus and minibus operators under the banner of Punjab Motor Union also staged 'dharnas' at many places like Amritsar, Patiala, Sunam, Hoshiarpur, Phagwara and Ajnala. The protesters carried black flags and raised slogans against the state government. With private buses off the roads, commuters, including women and children, faced a lot of inconvenience.
Unlike buses of the state-owned undertakings, private and minibus operators are dominant in the rural routes as they ply in the interiors of the state. Besides the tax waiver, they are demanding a hike in fares and want compensation for the decision to provide free rides to women in state-run buses.
A bus operator said that private bus operators had been demanding that the state government waive tax till December 2021 as they had suffered financially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The private bus operators also said that the ongoing free bus service to women in the state-owned buses had also hit their businesses. They said the state government should allow free bus service to women only on Saturday and Sunday in a week.
Protesters also said that they had been demanding a hike in bus fares in the wake of an increase in diesel rates. They were also demanding that the bus stand fee must be abolished. The private bus operators said that they had already apprised the state government of their demands, but no action had been taken yet in this regard. There are around 2,200 private buses in the state.