Malda, Nov. 28: Malda Commercial Vehicle Owners? Forum today threatened to call a 72-hour transport strike in the town from December 19, to protest against the deplorable condition of the roads in the district.
If the three-day strike fails move the district administration to repair the roads soon, the transport operators plan to go on an indefinite strike from January 2.
Representatives of 25 transport organisations today staged a demonstration in front of the district magistrate Abhijit Chowdhury?s office and submitted a memorandum to him.
President of the forum Pranob Bhattacharya, secretary Nimai Biswas and district bus owners? association secretary Kajal Roy stated in the memorandum that the condition of NH 34 was appalling and the state of other roads including, the state highways, was no better. According to them, repeated complaints have been lodged with the district administration, but to no avail.
According to Bhattacharya, they have been incurring heavy losses owing to the pot-holed roads. ?The roads are so bad that we have to change spare parts almost every day. If this goes on for long, we will have to give up the business,? Bhattacharya said.
The worst-hit is the 70-km stretch on NH 34 from Farakka to Gajole, Biswas said. Malda-Habibpur-Pakua state highway and Harishchandrapur-Tulshihatra-Kushida state highway also need to be repaired soon, he added.
Moreover, the post of the regional transport officer (RTO) has been lying vacant for more than six months, the memorandum stated. ?Since the RTO post is vacant, no one?s there to address the problems,? Roy said.
According to him, the pot-holed roads were not the only problem, the illegal motor-driven rickshaws added to the trouble. ?Since those rickshaws do not have to pay taxes, they can charge the passengers a very low fare, but we cannot,? Roy said.
The district magistrate, however, evaded responsibility of NH 34 by saying it was the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) that is supposed to maintain the highway and that the state government has no role to play in it. About the state highways, he said the cash-strapped state government was in no position to address the problem at the moment.