The private bus owners’ association in the State has opposed the Odisha government’s Location Accessible Multimodal Initiative (LAccMI) scheme.
The scheme is likely to be launched soon to facilitate affordable transportation to people across the State.
However, the All Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association has demanded not to bring buses from outside and instead include all the private buses in the scheme.
The association has warned that if their demands are not accepted by the government by August 15, they will stage a protest by halting the plying of bus services across the State on August 16.
“As per the proposed LAccMI scheme by the State government, buses will run in villages. If they will ply buses from panchayats to blocks, we have no objection. However, if the buses will ply from panchayat to block and again from State and capital headquarters, then how will we run our buses?” asked Debendra Kumar Sahu, Secretary of All Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association.
“We have demanded that instead of bringing buses from outside, the government should engage all the private buses plying in the State in LAccMI scheme. We will stage a protest by halting the plying of bus services across the State on August 16 if our demands are not met by August 15,” said Sahu.