School bus operators’ strike called off

The School Bus Owners Association (SBOA) on Wednesday withdrew its call for an indefinite strike by school bus operators from February 6.

The School Bus Owners Association (SBOA) on Wednesday withdrew its call for an indefinite strike by school bus operators from February 6.

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The decision was taken after 10 members from SBOA met state transport commissioner, VN More on Wednesday. “The meeting with the transport commissioner went on for two hours and the department has shown a positive response to our demands. In case, our demands are not met on February 17, we will decide the further course of action,” said Anil Garg, president of SBOA.

SBOA runs 300 busses in the city. Bus owners’ demands include allowing busses older than 15 years to run in the state, allowing drivers having less than five years of experience to drive school buses and schools being responsible for providing female attendants on buses.

Schools are upset with the SBOA for repeatedly threatening disruption of school bus services. “Even if the school bus owners association goes on a strike, our school buses will be running as per schedule. We will not support the strike,” said Deepshikha Srivastava, principal, Rajhans Vidyalaya, Andheri.