Leftist trade union CITU, on the
occasion of May Day on Friday, urged the West Bengal government and private bus operators to give financial assistance and other aid to lakhs of distressed transport sector workers in the state to enable them to tide over the crisis brought about by the novel coronavirus outbreak.
State unit president of CITU, Subhash Mukherjee said that workers in unorganised sectors like public transport were facing hardships due to the lockdown imposed to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
He said that though the lockdown has to continue in view of the extraordinary situation caused by COVID-19, the interests of the workers in the unorganised sector must be looked into to prevent them and their families from starving.
Private bus operators have also urged the state government to provide financial aid to workers employed in the sector.
General secretary of Joint Council of Bus Syndicates, Tapan Banerjee said, "Financial aid apart from providing ration to the distressed workers is an absolute necessity for them and their families to survive."
He said the state government should transfer a certain amount of money to the bank accounts of every worker in the unorganised sector to enable them to tide over the crisis.
The Bus and Minibus Samannoy Samity (coordination committee) has recently written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Road Transport and Highways and MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari to consider inclusion of public transport in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector, its general secretary Rahul Chatterjee said.
"This will help operators and workers of the public transport sector avail the facilities and grants provided by the Union MSME Ministry," he said.
Noting that the passenger transport business has come to a standstill owing to the lockdown, Chatterjee said that the central and state governments should urgently consider providing financial assistance to all the persons involved in the sector.
He has also written to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and state Transport Minister Suvendu Adhikary over the issue.
The West Bengal government had recently announced that intra-district private bus services will commence in 'green zones' of the state but each vehicle can carry only up to 20 passengers, who must be seated by maintaining social distancing.
Private bus operators, however, said it would not be economically viable to run the vehicles with only 20 passengers and expressed their inability to provide the services.
Bus operators' associations have said that either the state government should give them subsidy for running the vehicles or it may requisition the buses for plying the vehicles on different routes.
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