One-day State Transport bus employees strike from midnight

Ahmedabad

As many as 8,000 Buses plying under Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation will go off road from Wednesday midnight in a protest by Roadways union against the Centre’s new bill on road safety and transport. This is nationwide strike and GSRTC employees are going to join it through mass leave. Depot managers are not going to join the strike.

Buses of GSRTC will stop operation in Gujarat as drivers will go on a one-day protest against the Center’s new bill that would make them responsible for any road accident.

Under the provisions of the new bill, if a child is killed in a road accident by any driver, he will be punished with a cash fine of Rs 3 lakh and imprisonment upto seven years. While in case of an animal’s death in a road mishap, the fine would be Rs 1 lakh and imprisonment up to four years, said a union leader.

The new bill will also enable the state government to allow private carriages on state roads, causing financial losses to the GSRTC.

In protest, around 40,000 of employees will go on a one-day strike, which would cause a revenue loss to GSRTC, affecting over two million passengers.

The 24-hour strike will begin from midnight as per the trade union’s notice.

State transport department has meanwhile issued following guidelines to GSRTC officials:

– Depot Manager and responsible officer should not leave headquarters in any case.

– Officers will need to contact district collector and district police chief in case of any agitation that damages property of GSRTC.

-Short distance buses that halt in villages should be returned to concerned depot and long distance buses should be parked at nearest depot to avoid damage. Conductors need to deposit cash before cashier. Cash rooms should be protected by police.

– Depot should have extra tyres ready, mechanical team, security team, LC team for emergency.

– No advance booking for 30th April. Refund to passengers who have already booked tickets for travel on 30th April.

Minister Vijay Rupani says

Transport Minister Vijaybhai Rupani said this is national level strike which has been joined by Gujarat employees. There was no ultimatum given to the state government, and no demands were made. If there’s some state level demands, the government will surely discuss them with the employees. Rupani said mass casual leaves are not approved, and those going on leave will face actions later on. Rupani also said that the government has taken all steps to ensure that people face minimum difficulty.

– DeshGujarat