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Bus strike continues

Talks between the Delhi government and the State Transport Association for ending the three-day private bus operators strike in the capital failed to make any headway on Thursday.

Transport Minister Rajinder Gupta has given the Blueline operators another 24 hours to fall in line.

Millions of people remained stranded on the roads. Offices reported poor attendance, while most schools were closed. The situation continued to be chaotic during rush hours, though 3,200 Delhi Transport Corporation buses and 500 Blueline vehicles plied. Another 1,000 buses, under a special DTC scheme, were also on the roads.

Although the government had invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act, Gupta said he had given the operators another 24 hours to end the strike.

"Anybody booked under ESMA will face serious legal problems," he said.

He said any bus operator who refused to run his bus, or hamper any other bus from plying or creating law and order problems would be booked under the Act, which was non-bailable.

Commenting on Blueline operators leader Ramesh Dalal's threat that they would not be cowed down by any pressure, the transport minister said he would request the employees to stagger their office timings so that congestion in the buses could be reduced. Besides, he proposed to request the Northern Railway to increase the frequency of the ring railway service.

Gupta said many people had been arrested by the police. However, no bus has been impounded, as he had threatened on Wednesday.

Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, he said, had sent over some buses and had agreed to send more vehicles. The states were requested to lend 1,000 buses each.

Dalal, however, claimed that bus operators of Haryana and Rajasthan had assured him that they would not help out the Delhi government. If pressurised, they too would go on strike, he said adding that he was negotiating with the Uttar Pradesh Private Bus Owners Association as well.

The two main demands of the Blueline operators are the renewal of permits for the next five years and ownership rights on general power of attorney basis.

Dalal said if these demands were met, their organisation would ''never go on strike in future.'' He said they were not pressing for their other demands regarding overloading, road tax and insurance.

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