Nagpur, 01 July (HS):
The School Bus Owners Association of Maharashtra has announced an indefinite
strike starting July 2, 2025. As part of the protest, school buses across the
state will remain off the roads.
The association is
protesting against what it terms as the unjust issuance of e-challans by the
traffic police and the increasing surveillance through CCTV cameras. The timing
of the strike has triggered concern among students, parents, and school
authorities.
The
Maharashtra government has proposed setting up a committee to investigate the
school bus operators’ concerns and submit a report within 30 days. However,
with the new academic session already underway and daily transport disrupted,
bus owners are demanding immediate and interim relief to address the issue
without delay.
While addressing
the ongoing crisis, Anil Garg, president of the School Bus Owners Association
of Maharashtra, highlighted the main concern behind the strike. “The core issue
– school bus operators have been consistently penalised through multiple daily
e-challans, particularly while performing their primary duty of picking up and
dropping off students at school gates. In many cases, fines are being issued
repeatedly within a single day for stopping momentarily outside schools – a
necessity given the lack of proper parking infrastructure,” he said
He further
stated, “This has become financially unbearable. We are being fined simply for
doing our duty, and the cumulative burden of these penalties is threatening the
survival of our operations.”
Their major
demands are Immediate waiver of all pending e-challans issued against school
buses for duty-related halts near schools;.a moratorium on e-challan issuance
until proper school pick-up/drop-off zones are demarcated; A joint task force consisting of government
officials, RTO, police, and transport unions to find a long-term solution for
better administration and protection from exploitation of bus operators.
---------------
Hindusthan Samachar / Ajay Vasant Mardikar
