Interstate bus strike against Operation Night Riders from today in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: Interstate bus operators have started an indefinite strike in Kerala in protest of the Motor Vehicles Department's Operation Night Riders.

The Interstate Bus Owners Association of Kerala has demanded that the Motor Vehicles Department stop imposing “unnecessary fines on bus operators”.

According to sources, around 90 intrastate buses and 293 interstate buses will stop services as part of the protest.

The association also states that the department had asked them to remit tax in advance for the service on one side and had imposed fines to the bus operators stating the services were illegal on the other. The association has also requested the department not to accuse all private bus operators because one bus operator was caught for wrongdoing.

Operation Night Riders was an initiative undertaken following the attack on three passengers by Kallada Travels staff. On April 21, two passengers travelling from Thiruvananthapuram to Bengaluru were thrashed by the staffers of the company. The staffers allegedly even threw them out of the bus.