Ranchi: The lives of private bus owners have come to a standstill with no relief from the Jharkhand state government. After the lockdown hit the state last year bus owners are struggling to keep their business afloat while many are fighting for survival with no penny in their pockets. Still paying the road tax in huge amounts, the transport industry in Jharkhand awaits a response from Chief Minister Hemant Soren who has remained silent in the entire matter but refused to lift restrictions from the inter and intra state transport services.
The private bus owners feel shattered and ruined as they have not been able to earn a single penny since the past 2 months while have spent all their savings in lakhs paying the Jharkhand state government a huge amount of tax. The bus owners community hoped for some relief after the country started witnessing the downward trend in Covid cases but their hapless situation continues. CM Hemant Soren has allowed shops, markets, shopping malls to function following the Covid guidelines but buses are still not permitted to run even within the state.
Hemant Soren's 'Over-Cautious Decisions' Destroying Our Lives: Private Bus Owners
The Jharkhand government implemented a complete shutdown of transport services from 15th May 2021 when the tribal-dominated state recorded 76 new cases and 28 deaths which was a 37 percent dip in tally.
The lockdown in the state is currently extended till July 1st, 6 am and shops and markets have been allowed to open till 4 pm, transports services are completely shut in the state.
Private bus owners are demanding the resumption of private buses from the State Government for the survival of their business as they are bearing huge amounts of losses.
The bus owners are urging the state to permit transport services to function at least with 50 percent capacity which is currently allowed for taxis and auto-rickshaws.
Calling the chief Minister 'over cautious' a bus owner said that they have suffered a loss of around 3 lakhs in the last 2 months and is struggling to keep his business afloat with the burden of road tax which is being charged by the state government even though buses are not being allowed to run.
The Jharkhand Bus Owners Association President Sachchidanand Singh said that they have been trying to reach out to the government through various ways, have written many letters, tweeted about their concerns but there has been no response from Chief Minister Hemant Soren or the transport minister.
Singh said that bus owners have been left hopeless and are bearing losses that they have not earned in the past 10 years. Singh said that they hoped the Soren government would at least help them with their road tax concerns but their issues are being completely neglected.
Raising the issues Singh said, " We want the Heman Soren government to provide us some relief or take the keys of our vehicles. The bus owners have no money left to pay road tax or keep other documents like the renewal of permit and fitness certificate updated."
The Jharkhand Bus Association has also written a letter to the Hemant Soren government requesting him to waive off-road tax for the period till lockdown remains effective in the state.
It has been told through the letter that due to the restricted operation of buses, the financial condition of the bus owners has become very pathetic. At the same time, last year also buses did not operate for a long period. In such a situation, due to the continuous lockdown, the bus business has been badly affected.
Jharkhand Bus Owners to observe Black Day against Hemant Soren Govt
Singh further informed that the Jharkhand Bus owners Association will be observing a black day against the Hemant Soren government and will be tying black wrist and arm bands and march on roads and outside the CM office on June 28th.
Jharkhand Covid Tally
Jharkhand's COVID-19 tally rose to 3,45,028 on Friday as 114 more people tested positive for the infection, while two fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 5,106, a health bulletin said.
Ranchi district reported the highest number of new cases at 15, followed by Simdega (10) and Deoghar (nine), it said.
The fresh fatalities were recorded in East Singhbhum and Dumka districts.
The state now has 1,224 active cases, while 3,38,698 people have recovered from the disease so far, including 252 in the last 24 hours, the bulletin said.