Keonjhar, June 12: The dispute between two associations (Keonjhar-Champua) of bus owners in Keonjhar district had turned so ugly that buses were stopped from plying on their respective routes Monday.
The passengers were left stranded as several buses plying from Keonjhar to Champua to Joda to Badbil to Cuttack to Bhubaneswar were halted Wednesday morning over route permit issues. They had to search for alternative ways to reach their destinations in time.
According to reports, the Keonjhar Bus Association had stopped a bus of Champua Bus Association over permit issue Sunday. In a tit-for-tat, the Champua Bus Association had stopped several buses of Keonjhar Bus Association at Chandikhol and forced the passengers to leave the bus.
As per the Keonjhar Bus Association, “the State Transport Authority had not given the permit to Champua Association to run six new buses under the association. The Champua Association had sought our permission for running the six new buses. We had fixed a meeting with Champua Association to discuss it on June 20. We had sent a copy of the meeting’s schedule to the RTO and police department. But the Champua Association had started running the buses without our permission and before the meeting.”
When Champua Association Secretary Uttam Kumar Kar was asked about this, he said: “Our bus has been permitted by the Commissioner of State Transport Authority to travel from Koida to Bhubaneswar. So the Keonjhar Association has no right to stop our buses in between the roads.”
After getting the news, Additional Collector Bhakta Charan Pradhan has instructed the Keonjhar RTO Nirmal Mohanty to resolve the matter as soon as possible. Mohanty said they will investigate the issue and sort it out soon.
PNN