To protest the shifting of Batamaloo General Bus Stand to Parimpora on city outskirts, Kashmir Transporters Welfare Association (KTWA) has called for a two-day strike of buses and mini-buses from Wednesday, 6th September.
Spokesperson KTWA Mukhtar Ahmad on Tuesday said shifting of Batamaloo bus stand has “adversely affected” livelihood of thousands of people associated with commercial vehicles and businesses operating around the erstwhile bus stand.
“The government should stop playing around with lives of transporters and traders. It has been decided that a Chakka Jam of buses and minibuses will be held across Kashmir on Wednesday and Thursday,” he said.
The High Court had recently declared Batamaloo bus stand as “illegal” and asked authorities to seal it. Several transporters and traders had received injuries when police cane-charged them during a protest at Batamaloo on August 24.
General secretary KTWA, Sheikh Muhammad Yusuf said that “authorities during intervening night of Monday and Tuesday had blocked the roads leading towards Batamaloo General Bus stand by digging up the roads which the transporters are opposing.”
“The roads at Batamaloo were blocked as the government wants to make the new Parimpora bus stand functional. By shifting the bus stand from Batamaloo to Parimpora, authorities have left hundreds of people to suffer,” Yusuf said.
“In case the government does not fulfill the demand of transporters of re-shifting the bus stand to Batamaloo, a complete chakka jam including that of auto-rickshaws, passenger vehicles such as Tata Sumos will be held on September 8, 9 and 10,” he said. Yusuf along with several other transporters were detained by police later on Tuesday.
Batamaloo Bus Stand Association on Tuesday also held a protest alleging that the administration has blocked the entry and exit points of the bus stand which is causing inconvenience to common people. The association members assembled at Batamaloo Bus stand and shouted slogans demanding re-shifting of General Bus stand to Batamaloo from Parimpora.
To decongest the city, Srinagar Development Authority had acquired 57 kanals of land at Parimpora for construction of the new general bus stand at Parimpora but a logjam between transporters and authorities has been on since last several years.
“We have been against shifting to new bus stand as the terminal lacks facilities and does not have the capacity to accommodate the entire fleet of buses. We were asked by the regional transport officer to shift to new bus terminal. How can we shift thousands of vehicles to a place which according to SDA only has a capacity of 280 vehicles,” said a protesting transporter.
Transporters call 2 Day ‘Wheel Jam’ for shifting of batamaloo bus stand from today
