WB bus operators warned not to go ahead with strike

West Bengal bus operators who have called a two-day strike from September 19 were today warned by Transport minister Madan Mitra not to go ahead with it and told to surrender their permits if running services was not profitable for them.
"They (bus operators) are repeatedly saying that it was not profitable for them to run buses. If that is so then let them surrender their bus permits which will be given to new applicants," Mitra told reporters here.
"What the bus operators are doing is nothing but muscle-flexing. This will not be tolerated. Stern action will be taken," he said.

"If running buses is not profitable, then why is there such a demand?" he asked.
He said that the state government would take measures if any attempt was made to prevent operators taking out buses on the days of the proposed strike.
Mitra said that he hoped that the bus owners' association would not take the situation to such pass where the state government would be compelled to cancel their permits.

He said to tackle the proposed strike, the transport department has started a survey to assess the demand for new buses.
He said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her current tour of districts to review progress of development projects has found there was a great demand for introduction of new bus services.

A major bus operator's body has called the strike statewide demanding an immediate fare hike, but the state government has asked it not to take such a move till Diwali.
The Joint Council of Bus Syndicate, claiming to have controlling over 37,000 buses in districts and 6,500 in the metropolis, had announced that it would observe the strike demanding immediate fare increase.
"We have taken a unanimous decision to call the two-day strike," council leader Tapan Banerjee said.