Indefinite strike and chakka jam called by Uttarakhand Taxi-Max Parvatiya Maha Sangh in support of its charter of demands threw transportation in the hilly districts of Garhwal region out of gear on Wednesday, the first day of the strike.
The taxi and Max owners chose to stay away from the roads, lending support to the call of Maha Sangh, which has decided to continue the stir in the coming days to press for its 15-point charter of demands. Only private buses and Uttarakhand Transport buses were seen plying on the roads. However, they could not accommodate the large number of commuters. The strike and chakka jam has affected traffic in other districts of the State like Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Tehri, etc as well.
Uttarakhand Taxi-Max Parvatiya Maha Sangh Pauri district unit president Kotwal Singh Negi claimed that the strike was a huge success on the first day. Nearly 7000 taxi-max ply normally across the district to ferry people from one place to another on the national highways, state highways and other roads connecting the remote areas of the district.
In the remote areas, only the taxi-max services are present for transportation. On Wednesday, all of them were off the roads. The State Government's protracted nonchalance vis-à-vis our just demands has prodded us to opt for the strike. The 15-point charter of demands include the ones of period of the operation of max cab being kept at 15 years, revoking the order of curtailing it to 12 years in the hilly districts in the aftermath of 2013 disaster, increasing the capacity to 11, including the driver, rolling back the increased taxes, exempting max cabs from the taxes in line with the one enjoyed by the green card vehicles, formulation of a transport policy by the State government and considering transport as an industry, he said.