Kerala: Facing 'unfair taxes', interstate buses continues to remain off road affecting hundreds of passengers

Kozhikode: Making the lives of hundreds of commuters difficult, interstate-buses are continuing to keep off the road to and from Kerala. Demanding tax exemption like the one provided by the Tamil Nadu government, the inter-state private buses in Kerala and Karnataka continues to reel from a major crisis, with a significant number of services, especially those connecting Kerala, remaining off the road.

Bus operators are now demanding that the governments of Kerala and Karnataka follow the example of Tamil Nadu by offering a tax exemption to make operations financially viable.

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“Tamil Nadu has provided a glimmer of hope by verbally instructing border officials to exempt tax for buses from neighbouring states like Kerala, Karnataka, Pondicherry, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, prompting a slow resumption of services to destinations like Chennai and Coimbatore. The services to these destinations are being conducted without any issues for the last four to five days. Kerala and Karnataka too should adopt a relief stance similar to that of Tamil Nadu,” said George Skariah, owner of a private bus service operating between Kerala and Karnataka for the past 5 years.

Many passengers who had earlier opted for buses, especially from Kannur and Kozhikode are now looking for train tickets.

A significant number of interstate luxury private buses conducting services to Bengaluru and Hyderabad from various points in Kerala remain off the road. Only a small section of operators who were forced to pay the quarterly tax until December are plying buses now, but they warn that a failure by the governments to act swiftly would force a complete industry shutdown.

“The issue is yet to be solved. Many, who have not yet paid the quarterly taxes, are not operating,” he stated. Highlighting the impact on the key Kochi-Bengaluru route, George said that a number of operators including big players like FlixBus and Shyamoli Paribahan continue to suspend all their trips to Kerala.