In a respite to the people in the city who have been facing public transport woes during the past week, bus operators here on Tuesday decided to defer the three-day strike they proposed to observe from Wednesday.
The bus operators had declared a 72-hour strike, starting Wednesday alleging that the State government was dragging its feet on hiking bus fares despite several pleas.
The decision came after All India Trinamool Congress general secretary Mukul Roy assured them that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would look into their demands on her return from Singapore on Saturday. The decision was taken after a meeting of six bus operators of the State in the afternoon.
“Mr. Roy requested us to hold out till Ms. Banerjee returns from Singapore and assured us that he would personally arrange for a meeting with her. He also assured us that he would look into the matter of revising bus fares,” Joint Council of Bus Syndicate joint secretary Tapan Banerjee said.
“We have decided to wait till August 30 for the government’s decision. If we do not get a positive answer by then, we hold an internal meeting on September 1 to decide on our next course of action,” Mr. Banerjee added.
An advocate of the Calcutta High Court on Monday filed a public interest litigation in the court seeking inter alia that the proposed three-day strike be declared unconstitutional and illegal. Rama Prasad Sarkar, who filed the PIL, sought the setting up of an expert committee comprising representatives of the State Transport department, an officer of the court, bus owners’ associations and trade unions.
