More than three crore road transport workers in state-transport, private passenger transport, goods transport and small passenger transport like auto, taxi etc have staged a magnificent strike action throughout the country to voice their protest against and also determination to resist the draconian Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill which is still pending for enactment by Parliament.
The draconian Bill presented by the Modi Govt is a design for paving the way for destruction of state-owned public transport corporations, wherever it is there; this will expedite the process of complete privatization of public transport system and take-over of them by big private corporates leading to monopolization and enhancement of the public transport fares to the detriment interest of the common working people; this Bill will also lead to mass-scale victimization of the road transport workers engaged in both public transport and goods transport including the small transport operators; the strike is also against the frequent rise in diesel and petrol prices making the public transport costlier for the people at large. There are other issues too.
The All India Coordination Committee of Road Transport Workers Organisations comprising all road transport workers’ unions affiliated to CITU, AITUC, INTUC, HMS, AIUTUC, AICCTU, LPF, UTUC and TUCC have jointly called for the strike action on 7th August 2018.
The strike was total in Kerala, Bihar, Odisha, Pondicherry, Assam and J&K. In Haryana, state transports were virtually off the road and private transport also joined the strike in a big way. The Bihar Petrol Pump workers also went on strike. In Assam there was total strike in private sector. In West Bengal more than 80% workers went on strike in rural area. In Tamil Nadu the strike was total in Private Sector and 60% of STU workers went on strike. In M.P., there was total strike in 30 districts and partial in other districts. In Uttarakhand the STU buses were off the road. In Meghalaya there was strike except flood affected area. In Telangana the strike was total in STU and 75% workers in Private Sector participated in the strike. In A.P, the Auto, Taxi and Lorry workers participated in 13 districts for strike.
There was partial strike in Tripura, Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. In Sikar and Jaipur the auto-workers went on strike. In Jharkhand there was strike in 8 districts. In Delhi about 25% autos went on strike. In Chattisgarh there was strike in 5 districts.
CITU congratulates the road transport workers and their trade unions for their massive countrywide united strike action against the retrograde Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill notoriously designed to destroy the state run public transport services and ensure monopolization of the public transport by the corporate sector much to the detriment of peoples’ interests. CITU demands that the Modi Govt must take a call from this magnificent strike action and withdraw the draconian Bill forthwith.
( Tapan Sen )
General Secretary
