Bengaluru Taxi Strike Withdrawn After Government Agreed To Fulfill Demands Except Three (Image:Twitter/Gururaj Anjan)
The Bengaluru strike called by the Federation of Karnataka State Private Transport Association has been cancelled as the State Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy agreed to fulfil their demands except three, on Monday.
The Transport Minister met the protestors and association leaders at the Freedom Park and agreed 27 of their total 30 demands.
Following the strike, lakhs of private vehicles including autos, taxis, maxi cabs, goods vehicles and corporate buses have stayed off the roads, and made commuting difficult for school students and office-goers, reported the Mint.
The protest began on Sunday Midnight and was scheduled to continue till Monday midnight.
The transport minister had made alternate arrangements to put an end to the strike without accepting three of the demands put forward by the protestors – monthly grants to auto drivers, exemption of life tax on vehicles costing between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh, and withdrawal of Shakti scheme.
The Karnataka Shakthi scheme, launched in 2023, allows women residing inside the state to travel for free on non-premium buses plying within the state. It is the one of the five pre-election guarantees of the ruling Congress government. According to the protestors, the scheme eats most of their profit, says reports.
The Association, comprised of 32 private transport unions of bus, auto and taxi services, held a protest march from Bengaluru”s Freedom Park on Monday morning. They accused the sate government as it failed to fulfill their demands despite continuous discussions, and also demanded a ban on bike taxis and app-based aggregators.
The demands put by the private operators are “impossible” to take into action, NDTV quoted Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday.
“In a democracy, we cannot put restrictions on bandhs and protests. They are the essence of democracy but they should be held peacefully that”s all”, the CM added.
As NDTV quotes Siddaramaiah saying that, “We have implemented Shakti scheme, they are saying that — they are facing problems because of it, as women are not going to private buses — and so are asking the government to bear those losses, can that be done? It is practically not possible, the scheme is for the benefit of women”.
As an alternative method, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) have arranged more buses and travel facilities to public in order to tackle inconvenience caused by the strike.
The transport minister have also instructed officials to run government buses on the routes to schools, hospitals and colleges in Bengaluru, says reports.
