Odisha private bus owners call off December 1 strike after government assurances

The All Odisha Bus Owners’ Association (AOBOA) on Thursday announced that it has called off a planned statewide agitation on December 1 following assurances from government officials. 

The private bus strike was earlier called to protest the state government’s move to grant enhanced vehicle-checking powers to the police, which the association feared could lead to harassment of bus operators.

Strike Called Off After Government Promises

Debendra Kumar Saha, General Secretary of the association, confirmed that the decision to withdraw the strike came after commitments from the concerned department ministers and secretaries.

“The government has assured us that it will not be implementing this policy or granting additional powers to the police. Based on the assurances received from government officials, we decided in our general body meeting today to withdraw the upcoming bus strike,” Saha said.

The general body of the association had met to review the issue and unanimously agreed to hold off on the strike after receiving the government’s assurances.

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Why A Bus Strike Was Proposed

Earlier, on November 17, the association had issued a stern warning of a state-wide strike if the police were given additional powers to check motor vehicles. Association Secretary Saha had explained that the police had similar powers nearly four decades ago, but they were withdrawn after authorities reported they could not manage the responsibility effectively.

“We had written to the government against its granting excessive authority to the police over the checking of vehicles. We had protested against this from the proposal stage, as the last time such a power was granted, the police had misused it,” he said.

Saha had argued that since then, private buses operated without police intervention in routine vehicle checks. While motorcycle riders were occasionally checked under Section 184 of the Motor Vehicles Act, a provision the association supported, the incremental expansion of police authority over bus operations was being resisted.