Kerala lorry, bus owners call off strike

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The coordination committee of bus and lorry operators in Kerala called off a four-day-old strike demanding withdrawal of a government order on installing speed governors following talks with Transport Minister Mathew T Thomas here on Friday.

The bus operators announced their decision in the morning while the lorry operators withdrew their strike after talks with the minister in the afternoon.

Thomas told reporters that no fresh assurance had been given to operators to end the protest. Though the government was not against making speed governors mandatory for heavy vehicles, it was impractical to implement the Supreme Court's directive on this matter in Kerala alone.

Thanking the operators for calling off the strike, he said the government would speed up the process for promulgating an ordinance to overcome the apex court's order.
The strike was dealt with sternly as it had caused severe hardship to people, he said.

Committee representative P Ramachandran said the protest was withdrawn as the Supreme Court is taking up the case on speed governors on November 20.

Further steps would be taken after talks with the state government on the basis of the court's decision, he said.