PANJIM: The All Goa Private Bus Owners Association has called for a one-day hunger strike in Panjim demanding the release of various subsidies and financial assistance assured by the government.
General Secretary of the association, Sudip Tamankar, said that the strike notice was served to the Director of Transport and other authorities, including Chief Minister and Transport Minister, on October 30, while the day long hunger strike is schedule on Monday, November 6.
Bus operators from across Goa are upset with the government and say that despite making a budgetary provision in the last three years no funds have been released to the operators who are in losses due to illegal operations by Kadamba Transport Corporation and the pass system introduced by it.
Tamankar said that the three years insurance scheme ended in March 2017 while Goa State Fuel Subsidy scheme will be ending this November, but many bus operators have not received benefits of the schemes.
He said the Transport Department has not even processed the applications submitted by the bus owners for the last three years.
Besides subsidies, Tamankar said that bus operators are facing hardships for the renewal of permits and transfer of the vehicles due to the software updates in the Transport Department. He said that it takes two to three months for a task that otherwise takes one day.
He said a detailed representation was submitted to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on July 13, 2017, while on September 21 the Transport Director was directed to resolve the issues faced by the bus operators. But nothing has been changed, he added.
