Public vehicles remained off the roads in Tripura in support of the 24-hour nationwide strike called by the Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU).
Claiming that Centre's new bill on road safety would help the private operators take over public undertakings, the CITU declared a nationwide transport strike.
The operators of buses, trucks, autos and taxis attached to various unions and federations associated with CITU participated in the day-long strike here in protest against the Road Transport and Safety Bill, 2015.
Very few vehicles were seen on the roads even during the busy hours.
The office goers, mainly women, faced a lot of problems as there were no public vehicles as a result of which they had to manage other ways reach their respective destinations.
Lela Das, a staff of the state's Forest Department, said that she had to wait for more than an hour while going to the office.
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"On other days, I go by bus or auto-rickshaw. I am waiting if any office vehicle goes that way then I can manage to reach office or else I shall be absent from office because it is a long distance up to Gandhigram and without public vehicles it is impossible to go there.
It is a problem for us as our office is very distantly located and we need to change the vehicle two to three times," she said.
The attendance in office was law and several shops remained closed as the customers as well as the staff could not come. Many schools also remained close.
As per the CITU, the new Motor Vehicle Act, under the garb of minimising road accident deaths, is intended to throw a red carpet to big operators while depriving small players and workers of their livelihood. The CITU, therefore, urged all the transporters to observe a strike on April 30 to demand withdrawal of the proposed act.
