Bhubaneswar, Oct 9 (PTI) The All Odisha Bus Owners' Association (AOBOA) on Monday announced that its state-wide strike on October 10 has been put on hold as the government assured it that its demands will be looked into.

The strike was called to protest against the state government's decision to introduce bus services that will connect the blocks to the district headquarters.

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The decision to put the strike on hold was taken after a meeting between the state government and the association, said AOBOA general secretary Debendra Sahu.

"We will be badly affected if the government runs buses from the blocks to the district headquarters. Today, in the meeting, the government has agreed that it will not operate such buses. So, we have decided to postpone the strike till October 31," he claimed.

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The state government can run buses in the rural areas, from panchayats to blocks, and there is no objection to it, he said.

Sahu also claimed that the state government has agreed to their demand to provide permits to old buses and extend the deadline for installing vehicle location tracking devices (VLTD) by another year.

The state government is yet to make any official announcement regarding these.

Earlier in the day, state Congress president Sarat Pattanayak attacked the government, alleging that it was not looking into the plights of the bus owners.

"Not only the private bus owners, but also the teachers, sarpanchs, anganwadi workers and Gaon Sathis are protesting. They are not happy with the state government," Pattanayak said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)