delhi

Updated: Sep 19, 2019 01:52 IST

Residents of Delhi and the national capital region (NCR) are likely to face a harrowing commute on Thursday as a big chunk of private buses, autos, app-based taxis, trucks and other modes of transport will stay off the roads in protest against steep new fines under the amended Motor Vehicles (MV) Act.

A number of schools declared holidays as many privately run school bus services also backed the strike. Buses run by the Delhi Transport Corporation and the Delhi Metro will ply normally, government officials said.

Many buses, autos and cabs are expected to join the strike in Noida but the protest is unlikely to have an impact in Gurugram. In some other parts of the country, including Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and Tamil Nadu, trucks are likely to stay off roads.

“Our main demand is the exorbitant penalties under the amended MV Act should be reviewed. It is nothing but a source of corruption. While the government has increased the fines, it has not supported the law with any improvement in infrastructure,” said Harish Sabharwal, chairman of the United Front of Transport Associations (UFTA), an umbrella body of about 41 transport associations in Delhi-NCR.

The government passed the amended MV Act in the last session of Parliament, raising penalties in some traffic offences by as much as tenfold. The new penalties came into effect on September 1 but several governments, including Delhi, are yet to notify the new rates.

A number of states, including Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, and West Bengal, have already said they will not implement the new penalty regime, which is aimed at reining in road accidents. Nearly 150,000 people die annually due to road accidents in India.

Office goers and daily commuters are likely to be the worst hit by the transport strike. UFTA claimed 1,704 cluster (orange coloured) buses in Delhi are run by private operators and will not ply on Thursday. Moreover, a big section of the 138,000 registered cabs, 3,700 gramin sewa vehicles in the suburban areas, and 95,000 autos might not be on the roads on Thursday. Around 90,000 trucks ply in the Capital.

The 3,750 buses run by DTC and the Metro will run as usual but feeder transport services may be affected. The UFTA said it estimated the commercial losses in Delhi-NCR to touch Rs 23,000 crore.

Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot said the city government will monitor the situation on Thursday.

“It has to be seen how many transporters actually join the strike tomorrow. Any statement as of now will do nothing but create unnecessary panic among people. If back up is needed on Thursday, the Delhi government is well equipped to take the required measures for the benefit of commuters,” he said.

Some unions said they will not join the strike. “Members of UFTA did not even meet the union transport and finance ministers before calling the strike,” said Sanjay Samrat, president of the Delhi Taxi Tourist Transporters and Tour Operators Association, which has over 400 members. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party’s auto and taxi unions, which have 10,000members, also refrained from participating in the strike.

Rajender Kapoor, convener of UFTA, said they met chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday. “But, the CM only said he will look into it,” he said.

In Noida, buses, autos and trucks will be off the roads. The district has at least 40,000 commercial vehicles. “If we are continued to be fined with heavy penalties, the drivers will stop plying autos in NCR,” said Chaudhury Om Prakash Gurjar, president Noida Auto Drivers’ Association .

Gurugram is unlikely to be affected. Sabharwal said no union from the Millennium City had pledged support to the strike. Some schools in Gurugram such as Narayana School and DAV Public School called off classes as a precautionary measure. Other schools were yet to make a decision, while some like the Shri Ram Schools will be running as usual.

“We are open tomorrow. As per information from news, schools buses will not be plying. Parents will carpool or make arrangements to drop children to the school,” said Manika Sharma, director, The Shri Ram School.

In Delhi, several schools declared a holiday. Private schools such as The Shriram Millennium School and Shiv Nadar School in Noida, Bal Bharati Public School in Ganga Ram Hospital Marg and Mount Abu Public School in Rohini decided to keep their schools closed.

Sabharwal said the association will have a meeting in two or three days. “By then, if the central or state government doesn’t come up with a solution, we shall go on an indefinite strike,” he said.

Other states also braced for a disruption in commercial vehicle flow.

Rajendar Singh Trehan, chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Truck and Transport Association, said about 22,000 trucks registered in Madhya Pradesh would not run on Thursday. “Business of about ₹20 crore would be affected in Indore alone,” he said.

Apart from the new MV Act, transport associations are protesting against diesel price hike, increase in toll charges and mandatory third party insurance.

SP Singh, senior fellow at Indian Foundation of Transport Research, said a one-day token strike will have no impact as most of the trucks and lorries would have reached their destination in the morning. “But, I will request the government to call all stakeholders to discuss their concerns on the MV Act and other issues related with transport sector,” he said.