Chennai, Sept 29:
All mini-buses in Tamil Nadu will operate as usual on Wednesday despite the one-day strike announced by private bus owners, the Tamil Nadu Mini Bus Owners Federation has said.
The State government currently operates a free travel scheme for women in government buses under the name âMagalir Payanamâ. Chief Minister Vijay recently announced in the Assembly that the scheme would be expanded and renamed âVetri Payanamâ from October 2, Gandhi Jayanti. Under the expanded scheme, women will be allowed to travel free of cost on government Express, LSS, Deluxe and ordinary suburban buses in cities and urban areas. Free travel will also be available on ordinary government buses for inter-district journeys.
Private bus operators have expressed concern that the expanded free travel scheme would affect their business. They have demanded that the government increase private bus fares and extend the free travel facility to private buses as well, as a measure to protect their operations.
The Federation of Tamil Nadu Private Bus Owners’ Associations has announced a one-day token strike on Wednesday to press these demands. Accordingly, private buses are scheduled to remain off the roads from midnight on Tuesday until midnight on Wednesday across the State.
However, the Tamil Nadu Mini Bus Owners Federation has clarified that mini-buses will not participate in the strike. Following a decision taken by the federation’s state-level high-level committee, all mini-buses in Tamil Nadu will continue to operate normally on Wednesday. The federation said the private bus strike has no connection with mini-bus services and assured that mini-buses would run as usual throughout the State.