Transport operators in Goa, including bus owners, taxi operators, rickshaw and two-wheeler pilots, will observe a one-day token strike on Monday, August 31, 2009 to protest the implementation of the high security registration plates (HSRP) and the high cost of obtaining pollution certificates.
Addressing a joint press conference on Wednesday, representatives of various transporter’s associations said they had submitted a memorandum to chief minister Digambar Kamat on August 10 to withdraw the HSRP within seven days. However, no assurance to that effect has come from either the chief minister or the transport minister.
Secretary of the North Goa bus owners’ association Sudip Tamonkar told that although their seven-day deadline expired on August 18, they had held the strike in abeyance so as to not inconvenience the traveling public during Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. Wednesday’s press conference was also attended by Manuel Rodrigues of the South Goa bus owners’ association, Salvador Fernandes of the truck owners’ association and Sriram Naik of the tempo owners’ association.
Meanwhile, Youth Congress president Sankalp Amonkar told TOI that they “totally supported” the transport operators in their one-day strike. Amonkar said the Youth Congress has also requested two-wheeler motorcycle pilots to join the strike.
Source: Times of India