Bus strike leaves commuters harassed

Bus strike leaves commuters harassed Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Jammu, October 3
Commuters in Bani and Basohli subdivisions of Kathua district had to face a number of hardships, as the private bus operators went on an indefinite strike today.
The trouble erupted around 8 am, when the drivers and conductors of various private buses gathered outside the bus stand at Bani, demanding revocation of permit issued to two new buses on the Udhampur-Bani route.
The private bus operators here opposed the decision of regional transport office to introduce two new buses and termed it a clash with their already existing timings, said Vijay Kumar, a local resident.
The buses remained off the road throughout the day and caused immense hardships to all those who had to go to the district headquarters at Kathua, Punjab and any other far off place.
Office goers were the worst affected by the strike. They had to arrange other modes of transportation.
Ramesh Kumar, a banker, said: “I had to reach the bank at 9:30 am in Kathua but the strike caused me a delay of almost an hour.”
Sushil Kumar, a resident of Dhar Mahanpur village in Basohli, said: “I had to go to Pathankot to get some medicine. But because of the strike, I would have to now go in a cab, which would cost almost five times the bus fare.” He added that a very few state run buses were available on the hilly and remote routes.
KB Singh, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Bani, said: “The transporters here opposed the government’s decision to introduce two new buses on the Udhampur-Bani route. They came on the roads to stage their protest and kept their buses off the road.”
“The situation is normal. But taking some precautionary measures, we have deployed some cops to keep an eye over the situation,” added Singh.
Meanwhile, Zahida Khan, Deputy Commissioner, Kathua, sent the RTO and some other officials to talk to the protesting transporters. “The RTO is still there. But so far the stalemate has not ended,” said Zahida.
A senior official in the district administration said the new buses belonged to some politicians and the local transporters were against this decision of the state government.