All India transport bandh 30 April 2015

All India transport bandh no transportation in Delhi, Banglore, Kolkata, Chennai.

Transport Bandh

The Nation would witness a general strike/ Bandh on April 30 called by several Transport Associations under the banner of AIRTW, who are protesting against the Road Transport and Safety Bill 2014. The Draft Bill has proposed a point based penalty system in case of traffic violations by drivers, apart from monetary penalty and jail terms. For each violation penalty point(s) would be assigned to the drivers. These Penalty points would be kept in record for 3 consecutive years and the accrual of 12 points would lead to the suspension of his driving licence for one year.They claim that the bill provides biased advantages to private bus operators. Buses, Autos, Taxis won’t by plying on the Road, causing troubles to the daily commuters who rely on them. Apart from this, BJP and Left Parties have called for a Statewide Bandh in West Bengal on the same day. However the issues of these two shutdown calls are completely unrelated.The bandh has been called to protest against the Road Transport & Safety Bill, which imposes higher penalties on drivers. The bill has been proposed by the Union Transport Ministry. Some auto rickshaw drivers and owners unions in the city too are taking part in the bandh.

Apart from Buses, Autos would also keep off the road. According to reports, no auto service would be available in metro cities like Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai. The Bandh would also be observed in parts as far as North East India.

The major opposition to the Bill and subsequent protests leading to shutdown comes from the employees of State owned Transport firms like BMTC and KSRTC of Karnataka. It is feared that lakhs of employees including drivers, bus conductors would be unemployed if the bill is implemented.

With Friday too being a holiday for Labour Day, many employees in the city are planning a long weekend. Eager to beat Thursday’s bandh, they rushed to several bus-stations across the city on Wednesday. Passengers, who had booked their tickets in KSRTC buses for Thursday, will be refunded. “We will start plying the services from Thursday night though,” a KSRTC official said.

All India transport bandh 30 April Attendance at offices and business establishments is expected to be low. Ms Radhika Avasthi from Koramangala said, “I have a cloth store in Electronic City. I have no option but to take an auto or a taxi.” Mr Revappa of the KSRTC Workers’ Federation (CITU) said, “The penalty that is proposed to be imposed on drivers is not justified. The bill says if a driver is involved in an accident, he has to shell out Rs 1 lakh in penalties and four years in jail. It also encourages privatisation by auctioning inter-state highway routes for private transport players. Since the KSRTC cannot pay the high bid amount, private players will dominate these routes, and it is not acceptable by us at all. Since private operators are not concerned about their drivers, they are not participating in the protest.”

One of the major repercussions of the Bandh has been the postponement of CET 2015 to May 12-14, conducted by Karnataka Examination Authority.