To counter the strike, the state government promised it would be running almost 2,000 government-run commercial vehicles, including buses run by the CSTC, WBSTC, CTC and tramcars. 

Thursday’s meeting between the transport operators and the state government once again failed to break the deadlock, with the government agreeing to a one-day strike and pleading the operators to appeal to the High Court and the Supreme Court to modify the orders banning pre-1993 commercial vehicles by July 31.

With no amicable solution in sight between the state transport department and the transport operators on the issue of the High Court ban on 15-year-old vehicles, the bus and taxi associations under the banner of Save Commercial Vehicle Committee (SCVC) on Sunday had called for an indefinite strike from July 24.

“It is a High Court order and we cannot do anything about it. We have asked the transport unions to appeal to the High Court and the Supreme Court but if there is no interim order, we cannot do anything. Let there be a strike tomorrow, we have arranged for extra government vehicles. We have also urged the associations to utilise the one week’s time and approach the court since it is the only one who can modify the order. The issue of an indefinite strike was not brought up by the associations,” said state Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty.

The meeting between Chakraborty and the representatives of the Bengal Bus Syndicate, Bengal Taxi Association, Progressive Taximen’s Association, Calcutta Taxi Association and Joint Council of Bus Syndicate at the Netaji Indoor stadium ended in a fiasco with the bus and taxi owners criticising the minister and the state government. Bus owners shouted slogans against Chakraborty.

A police contingent led by deputy commissioner (south) Rajesh Subarna arrived at the spot and brought the situation under control. “Buses and mini buses will be off the roads from Friday for an indefinite period. The talks with the state transport department have failed. There has been no initiative from the government though we have repeatedly told them about our problems. We said we will install a new engine worth Rs 1 lakh as getting a new bus would cost Rs 20 lakh. If we take a loan from nationalised banks, the entire income would go in paying interest,” said Swarnakomal Saha, general secretary, Bengal Bus Syndicate.