Transport services in the State would be badly hit by the nationwide strike call given by the labour unions on September 2. The employee unions are up in arms against the proposed Road transport and Safety Bill–2014. The strike call is sure to bring problems to the commuters on the day.
The transport services would be completely paralysed in the State with the all unions of Uttarakhand roadways supporting the bandh call. The General Secretary of Uttarakhand Roadways Karmachari Sanyukt Parishad, Ramchandra Raturi said that all the 4,000 members of the union would be on strike on the day. He said that proposals of the proposed bill are anti people and protect the interests of private players in transport sector. He claimed that the proposed bill would ensure that all the State transport corporations are slowly closed down due to which more than 7.5 lakh employees would face job insecurity.
The General Secretary of Uttaranchal Roadways employee Union Ashok Kumar Chaudhary too echoed similar sentiments and said that the efforts to put the transport sector into private hands would be opposed by employee unions.
The proposed bill plans to levy heavy financial penalties on petty driving violations the employee unions are of the view the lowly paid drivers would have no choice but to leave the profession once the bill is implemented. There demand is that Central Government should do away with the plan to obliterate section six of Motor Vehicles act in the road safety bill.
The strike would ensure that the entire fleet of over 1500 buses of State transport corporation would be off the road on the day.
The Vikram Jan Kalyan Sewa Samiti has also extended its support to the nationwide strike. The President of the Samiti, Satish Sharma said that no Vikram would ply in Dehradun city on the day.