Maharashtra transporters & private buses to begin indefinite strike over e challan today

Kolhapur: Goods transporters and private passenger bus operators will start their indefinite statewide strike from Thursday, with the impact likely to disrupt to goods supply and passenger travel. A senior official of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation said, "We are going to monitor the situation at our depots. On the routes with high passenger turnout, we will deploy additional buses."The statewide strike has been called against e-challans issued for violations of RTO rules and traffic regulations. Transporters claimed e-challans are being issued rampantly without them being told what for, and that they have to pay at least 50% of the fine amount to take the matter to court. They also said that if the fine is not paid within the stipulated period, it attracts further penalties. One private bus operator from Kolhapur said he had been fined so many times that the total fine amount he needed to pay is much more than the cost of the vehicle.Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and State Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik had deployed state transport commissioner Rajesh Narvekar to convince the representatives of transport associations to not proceed with the strike. Accordingly, a meeting was held on Wednesday afternoon in Mumbai."The transport commissioner told us that since there is a war going on, and the goods container vehicles are stranded, we should withdraw our strike. However, there is no concrete assurance on the e-challan issue, which is seriously harming the transporters since it has been in effect for the past eight months. Even after several meetings, the issue has not been resolved," said Prakash Gawali, the convenor of the federation of the state transporters associations, told TOI.On Wednesday, the transporters honked their horns for one minute wherever they were as part of the protest.Hemant Disale, the office-bearer of Kolhapur's lorry operators' association, said, "On the first day, goods transport vehicles in transit will reach their destinations, de-load the goods and stop operating. No new transport assignment will be taken up by the drivers."Satishchandra Kamble, the head of private buses association, said, "We are going to hold a protest march in Kolhapur against e-challan on the first day of the indefinite strike. All the private luxury buses will also be part of the protest. We have asked our members to cancel the bookings if already done, and if not, then not to accept new bookings."Some luxury bus operators said they would operate buses if passengers turned out in large numbers on Thursday, but their representatives would take part in the protest. From Friday, however, they would shun the service altogether. Around 750 private buses operate to and from Kolhapur every day, each carrying around 40 passengers. Bus depots and train stations are expected to witness a surge in passenger numbers on Thursday morning.