By IANS
New Delhi : Around 5,000 private school-van operators Monday called off their strike within hours of launching it as the Delhi government gave them a month’s time to meet the guidelines set by the Supreme Court.
“We are withdrawing our strike after Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf gave us a month’s time and assured us that the authorities would not take any action till that time,” said Lucky Singh, a spokesman of the school-van operators association.
The private operators who run nearly 15,000 vehicles to ferry schoolchildren went on strike Monday morning, protesting authorities’ stringent action against them for not running buses as per the prescribed laws. They also demanded more time for replacing LPG kits of their buses with those of CNG.
As the school-vans stayed off the roads, thousands of school-children were stranded. Students who rely on private operators missed their classes and attendances in many schools were thin.
“We were forced to pay the hefty amount for violating traffic rules and our vehicles were being impounded,” Lucky Singh said in defence of the strike.
Alarmed by the increasing number of road accidents, the state transport department and the Delhi Traffic Police launched a drive two months ago and impounded over 450 vehicles, including those running without the mandatory speed governors.
Speaking to mediapersons, Yusuf said: “I am giving them more time on the condition that they would meet the guidelines. We would resume the drive if they fail to do so.”