AHMEDABAD: Urmila Makwana had to wait for almost an hour for a bus to go from Lal Darwaza to Vasna on Monday evening. After the long wait, a bus finally arrived, but without space to put her foot in. “It is difficult to board any bus, most of them are jam-packed and the frequency is very poor,” she fumed.

Such has been the plight of many people travelling by buses in the past few days. The ongoing strike of daily wagers, temporary conductors and employees of private contractors of Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Services (AMTS) entered into fifth day on Monday. 



However, late in the night, the warring parties called it truce. AMTS services are likely to resume from Tuesday. Deputy municipal commissioner, in-charge of AMTS, MS Patel, said: “The strike has been called off. After holding dialogues with striking workers, we have come to an agreement over the issue.”

Narendra Patel, general secretary of Gujarat Mazdoor Sabha that was spearheading the strike said, “We have resolved the problem with AMTS authorities. Minimum and maximum salary payable to the striking employees have been fixed. Though, negotiations shall continue, we have decided to resume operations from tomorrow.”

The striking workers were pressing to be treated at par with permanent employees of AMTS. Though the AMC started using the services of state transport buses and drivers since Sunday, in-city transport was partially paralysed on Monday.

Chairman of AMTS committee, Pravin Patel, said, “AMTS authorities have ensured that passengers do not have to face any major problems in commuting on city roads. We have pressed in service 200 state road transport buses.”

However, the ground reality was quite different on city roads as commuters were left high and dry in summer heat. The commuters complained that they had to wait for more than half an hour at AMTS bus stops.

At Meghaninagar, Amit Nadia, resident of Dariapur was waiting for his daily AMTS bus, Nadia said, “I have waited at bus stop for 20 minutes but I am not able to get on one yet. Now, I do not have any other option but to hire an autorickshaw which will be quite heavy on my pocket.”


Source: TimesofIndia