Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Oct 5:

In a major relief to commuters, the All Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association (AOPBOA) today called off it's proposed indefinite bus strike that was scheduled to begin from October 7.

bus-strike

The AOPBOA took the decision to call off the proposed strike at a meeting here today following the grant of bail to Rushav Kumar Tripathy, the owner of ill-fated bus ‘Maharaja’ that skidded off a bridge at Puruna Manitri near Athmallick killing 19 persons and leaving over 50 injured last month.

AOPBOA President Prakash Mishra informed the media this evening that the decision to call off the proposed strike was taken since Rushav was granted bail by the court.

Rushav was arrested on September 23 and was in since then was granted bail by the Angul District and Sessions Judge court yesterday.

The bus owner as claimed by the AOPBOA was arrested despite having all valid documents of the vehicle.

In protest against his arrest, Angul Bus Owners’ Association had observed a dawn-to-dusk bandh two days after his arrest.

Representatives of AOPBOA had met Transport Minister Ramesh Majhi on September 26 and had served him a deadline to withdraw cases against Tripathy by October 6 failing which they would launch an indefinite strike from October 7.

The AOPBOA had also observed a state-wide 24-hour bandh on September 29 pressing for Rushav’s release.