The indefinite strike called by the Meghalaya Joint Action Committee of Commercial Vehicles (MJACCV), comprising taxis, private buses and sumos, against the refusal of the State government to reconsider the revision of fares affected commuters today.
The streets of Shillong, which are normally clogged with commercial vehicles, especially the familiar yellow-blacks taxis, did not have a single one plying on the first day of the strike. There were also no commercial vehicles travelling to the state capital from the rest of the Khasi-Jaiñtia Hills.
Business activities in Ïewduh, the largest commercial hub in the state, were minimal as farmers could not bring their produce to the market. Traders from the city’s suburbs, such as Upper Shillong, Mawlai and Mawpat had to either walk on foot or were dependent on friends who owned private vehicles.
“The government should reconsider rolling back the prices of petrol and diesel since it is also affecting the common man. We have to shell out double the fares, which is burning our pockets,” a woman selling betel nut said.
Commercial vehicles are on strike because of the high price of petrol (partly explained by Rs 31 in tax on every litre of petrol), revision of fares to the level before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the requirement to pay their taxes in full despite not being allowed to ply their vehicles everyday during the pandemic.
Places like Motphran, Khyndailad, Laitumkhrah and Polo, where there is usually heavy vehicle movement, saw relatively empty roads.
However, the Shillong Public Transport Service buses and the Shillong Supplementary Public Transport Service maxi cabs were seen plying. Buses of the Meghalaya Transport Corporation were also pressed into service by the government for ordinary commuters.
Meanwhile, Mawlai MLA Process T Sawkmie, of the opposition Congress, has come out in support of the MJACCV.
Terming their demand as a genuine one, Sawkmie said that the Congress government in 2018 had reduced the price of petrol and diesel by Rs 2.50 per litre.
To ease the problem of the commercial vehicle drivers and owners, he urged the present government to adopt similar measures.
Sawkmie also said that he hoped that the Agricultural Infrastructure and Development Cess of Rs 2.50 per litre on petrol and Rs 4 on diesel proposed in the Union budget this week would not affect the prices of the fuels in Meghalaya.
