Bus operators in Bengal seek financial help from Gadkari

Two bus operators' associations in West Bengal said on Monday that they have written to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari seeking a financial package for the passenger transport industry, which has taken a severe hit amid the coronavirus-triggered lockdown.

Drawing attention of the Road Transport and Highways minister to the plight of thousands of bus owners and their employees, the Joint Council of Bus Syndicates and Inter and Intra Region Bus Association said the industry would suffer an irreparable loss without any aid from the government.

"The operators of around 49,000 buses in the state and over 2.5 lakh workers are in financial distress on account of the lockdown," Joint Council of Bus Syndicates general secretary Tapan Banerjee said.

Pallab Majumdar, the general secretary of Inter and Intra Region Bus Association, in the letter to Gadkari, said bus operators and employees were finding it difficult to sustain their livelihood.