Odisha private bus owners’ statewide strike on Sep 29

Bhubaneswar, Sep 25:
Protesting arrest of owner of the ‘Maharaja’ bus, which claimed 19 lives after
it fell off a bridge near Athamallik in Angul district on September 9, the All
Odisha Private Owners’ Association on Sunday decided to go on a 24-hour State-wide
strike on September 29.

Association president
Prakash Mishra told reporters that the buses will off the road from between 6
am on September 29 and 6 am in the following day.

He said that all bus
owners and employees would wear black badge beginning on Monday in protest
against the arrest of Rishav Kumar Tripathy. The bus owners have been demanding
immediate withdrawal of the case charged against Tripathy and his release from
jail.

Mishra said they would
force to resort to an indefinite strike from October 7 if case against Tripathy
is not withdrawn by October 6 thereby bringing a tension for the Government for
public transport system during Durga puja.

The Angul police on
Friday had arrested the absconding owner of the ill-fated and court-forwarded
him.

The bus bearing
registration number OR 06C 9370 skidded off around 50 feet below the Manitiri
bridge in the district killing 19 people.

Two days after the
tragic incident, driver Birendra Behera, a resident of Sambalpur district, had
been nabbed by a special squad of police.