Commuters’ woes in Kolkata and other districts are seemingly far from getting over. The transport operators in the state have decided to continue their call for a 72-hour strike starting from 22 May.
Three consecutive meetings since yesterday failed to bring any fruitful results in preventing the three-day strike which is to be observed from Thursday. The series of meetings started yesterday between the operators and the officials of the state transport department. With no effective results, another meeting was held between the secretary of the state transport department, Saumitra Mohan, and the operators last evening. However, the traffic department officials’ absence from the meeting resulted in disappointment among the transport operators who are unanimously demanding solutions against the alleged ‘police atrocities.’ Yet another meeting this morning between the operators, the officials of the state transport department and the traffic police of Howrah, Kolkata and Bidhannagar also proved to be unsuccessful. As claimed by the transport operators, despite the three meetings, no solutions to their demands were found.
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The situation reached an intense point where the transport operators refused to budge from their call of a 72-hour strike unless the chief minister intervened. The operators are demanding solutions against ingenuine cases given to them by the traffic police allegedly. Another issue highlighted by the operators is around the SANJOG portal which the state government is considering implementing from 1 June. According to the operators, the implementation of the portal would prevent them from enjoying relaxations on penalty that they generally get at Lok Adalats. Citing such issues, the transport operators are demanding solutions against the two issues which they now feel could be done only by the chief minister.