Uttarakhand HC seeks government's response on private bus strike

Nainital, July 30: The Uttarakhand High Court on Monday sought an explanation from the state government on the ongoing private bus operators strike in the hill state and asked it to respond within the next 24 hours.

Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a resident of Haldwani town, the bench of Justice Rajeev Sharma and Justice Alok Singh asked the state government on its stand on the matter while posting the matter for hearing on Tuesday.

Private bus operators have been off roads since the last week, leading to serious problems for commuters who largely depend on their service as only 10 per cent of the state is covered by the state-owned buses and for the rest, private buses are the sole option.

In the PIL, it has also been pleaded that with the strike, state-run buses are overloaded and hence risk the lives of commuters traveling on them. 

The petitioner has also demanded that ESMA be invoked against the private bus operators. 

Meanwhile, there were indications now that the strike might end as the state government is opening channels of communication after the court took cognizance of the matter.