Passengers badly suffer as transport operators’ strike continues on Day 2

Passengers carrying baggages moving towards Jammu Railway station on foot as transporters remain on strike. — Excelsior/Rakesh
Passengers carrying baggages moving towards Jammu Railway station on foot as transporters remain on strike. — Excelsior/Rakesh

Govt deploys addl SRTC buses

Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Apr 22: The general public, especially the passengers reaching Jammu and other major towns of J&K in trains from outside are suffering badly as the strike of private transport operators continued for the second consecutive day today.
The Government authorities claimed to have pressed additional buses of Jammu Kashmir Road Transport Corporation (JKRTC) into the service of general public, but even then majority of the people including Government employees and the pilgrims coming to Mata Vaishnodevi ji shrine besides others, were seen walking along the roads with their baggages on the heads.
Many passengers including women carrying their children and bags were witnessed trying hard to cover distance from Jammu Railway Station up to Bikram Chowk and Bus Stand. However, in some areas a few autorikshaws were seen operating. Even many Government employees could not reach their offices in the absence of public transport, especially those working in remote and far- flung areas due to non-operation of buses and mini-buses. With this, the attendence in Government and private offices as well remained thin.
Sources in the Transport department said that there are hardly 350 SRTC buses operational in J&K at present and about 10% remain in workshops. Against the strength of over 3000 buses and 10,000 Mini-buses/ Sumos and 2000 Tempo travellers/ Taxis etc operating in Jammu region, nearly 150 JKRTC buses just in Jammu division are unable to cater to the need of the daily passengers.
Similar type of problems are being faced by the passengers at Kathua, Lakhanpur, Samba, Udhampur, Katra, Reasi, Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Rajouri and Poonch areas of the region. The Jammu-Srinagar bound passengers are also suffering badly and a large number of Kashmiri passengers are stranded at Lakhanpur, Jammu Bus Stand and Railway Station.
In is pertinent to mention here that private transporters went on indefinite strike on April 21 (Wednesday) after J&K Government announced operation of public transport with 50% capacity as fresh measures to tackle increasing COVID cases. The transporters/ operators are demanding 50% increase in the passenger fare claiming that they will not be able to operate on roads with such guidelines. They will suffer heavy losses with this decision of the Government, which they can not face any more.
Chairman, All J&K Transport Companies Welfare Association, T S Wazir said that their strike will continue indefinitely. So far, the Government has failed to take any decision in this regard. He said the transporters have already suffered huge losses during last year due to lockdown. They are not able to bear further losses.
“We are only demanding 50% hike in passenger fare till this order of the J&K Government remains in force,” Wazir added.
The Association leader further said today he received call from Transport Commissioner, Pardeep Kumar, who asked to represent their case. “We have forwarded our representation to the Government through Transport Commissioner and we hope the Government will take some early decision in this regard. We really feel the pain of the public and incovenince being caused to the people,” Wazir regretted.
Managing Director, JKRTC, Angrez Singh Rana when contacted said that in view of the strike of private transport operators, some additional buses of the Corporation were deployed on many routes today. He said from Jammu Railway Station to Katra and other routes like Kathua-Samba, R S Pura, Udhampur-Doda-Kishtwar and Akhnoor-Rajouri- Poonch some additional buses were deployed.
“But with inadequate strength of buses with JKRTC, it is not possible to cover all the routes. Even in Jammu city some more buses were deployed on different routes today. Out of the total fleet of 530 operational vehicles, nearly 185 are trucks and around 345 buses with us. The RTC buses from workshops were also pulled out after minor repair and were pressed into service today. We hope the issue will be resolved shortly,” Rana added.