GUWAHATI: Assam state government has decided to resume inter-district buses services from September 1 after 3 months.
Addressing a press meet on the eve of 100 days of BJP led Assam government, Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma said that public bus services will resume from September 1.
Further, the government has also decided to provide one-time financial assistance to around 60,000 drivers and handymen of the state. The same could be claimed by registering on a government-initiated website.
Further, the chief minister added that in Guwahati only electric or CNG buses will ply on the road in order to cut down emissions. The government is also planning to procure 200 electric buses and 100 CNG buses.
Earlier, several private buses' employees staged protests against the revised COVID-19 Standard Operating Protocols(SOP) on Tuesday at the Interstate Bus Terminus (ISBT) at Garchuk, Guwahati after the Assam government released the protocols.
The new SOP also kept unaltered the inter-district movement of passenger vehicles within Assam, which upset the private buses' employees including drivers and handymen. Following the release of the SOP, they started protesting and demanded the lifting of curbs on the inter-district movement.
According to the protesters, the prolonged suspension of the inter-district movement has already badly hit the drivers and other buses' employees halting their income avenue.
"The ban on inter-district movement already passed four months. We are now facing a severe economic crisis. The government is doing drama. On August 13, Chief Minister announced that the curbs on inter-district movement would be lifted on August 17," a protester said.
Another protester said that they reached the ISBT as the Chief Minister announced to lift the suspension.
"We did not get our payments for the last four months. The buses' owners said that they could not pay us. How could we survive? We have our family. How could we feed our family? So, we demanded the government to lift the suspension,'' the protester added.
Meanwhile, Inter-District movement of private vehicles and movement of people will be allowed except to and from Kamrup (Metro) District. Inter-District Public Transport however shall remain open.
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