Bengaluru: Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, who succeeded in persuading the private transport organisations that had called for a strike due to the hardship of the Shakti scheme, will hold a second round of meetings on July 31. He will talk separately with autorickshaw, taxi and private bus organisations regarding demand fulfillment.
On July 31 morning, a meeting has been scheduled at the Transport Commissioner’s office in Shantinagar with Transport Minister from 11.00 am to 12.00 pm, along with the autorickshaw vehicles association, from 12.00 pm to 1.00 am taxi and maxicab and from 1.00 am to 2.00 pm private bus organisations. A total of 43 organisation leaders have been invited.
As promised in the first round meeting, there is a possibility that they will fulfill the 28 demands in which time frame, seeking the cooperation of organizations and other discussions. Rs. 10,000 monthly compensation should be given to the distressed drivers. “The Minister had said in the previous meeting that he would hold a meeting with the Chief Minister to decide on the issue of extending Shakti Yojana to private bus transport companies as well as reducing the registration fee of taxis like Government-owned bus transport companies. We are going to mention that today. We are going to request an early meeting with the Chief Minister. We will be requesting to fulfill the rest of the demands as soon as possible,” Nataraja Sharma, the leader of the transport organisations said.
In the backdrop of ‘Shakti’ scheme, women are not using private vehicles and we have suffered a huge loss. The drivers and owners of private vehicles had called for a strike on July 27, saying that the Government should provide compensation. Two days ago, the Minister had called the leaders of the organisations and promised to fulfill 28 demands. In this background, the leaders withdrew the struggle.