Govt against bus strike, seeking alternate plan for bus owners

With bus and minibus operators calling a three-day strike in West Bengal from June 25 seeking a fare hike, Transport minister Madan Mitra today said that an alternative plan was being thought of to reduce their burden.
"We are against any fare hike for the sake of the common man. But, we acknowledge the trouble faced by bus operators and we will try for some alternate plan to reduce their burden," Mitra said on the sidelines of introduction of 30 new buses for north Bengal.
"We cannot allow bus strike at any cost," he said.
Mitra said that the problem was aggravated due to rise in diesel price a subject of the Centre.

"I can feel the pain. We are even losing additional Rs 10 crore a month on diesel," he said.
Mitra is likely to discuss the issue with bus operator unions tomorrow.