Bhubaneswar: The All Odisha Bus Owners’ Association has decided to put its statewide agitation on hold till October 31.

The association had earlier announced to go for an indefinite strike from Oct 10 to protest against the Location-Accessible Multimodal Initiative (LAccMI) and ‘Mo Bus’ schemes of the Odisha government.

The agitation has been put on hold following a fruitful discussion with the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), said the association in a statement today.

The state government has planned to deploy as many as 1,600 buses under the LAccMI scheme to connect the gram panchayats with block headquarters and block headquarters with district headquarters. As per the scheme, altogether 1,000 buses will be engaged to connect the gram panchayats with block headquarters and 600 buses to connect the block headquarters with district headquarters. The association has urged the state government to include the private buses under the scheme to boost communication between block headquarters and district headquarters, sources said.

“The state government has assured us to look into our demand in this regard. A decision in this regard would be taken at a high-level meeting on October 31,” said the association.

The state government has also constituted a committee to look into all issues raised by the association with regard to the Mo Bus scheme. The first meeting of the committee is scheduled to be held on October 13, sources said.

The state government has agreed to extend the temporary permits of transport buses by five years after completion of the existing duration of 15 years.

The deadline for installation of VLTD and panic button has been extended to December, 2024, said the association.