A section of private bus operators in Kozhikode district has resumed their protest against the State government’s Priyadarshini free travel scheme for women in KSRTC buses, alleging that the scheme will derail their business and push hundreds of bus owners and workers into acute financial distress.The protesters, owing allegiance to the Kerala Private Bus Operators Association, staged a hunger strike in front of the Collectorate on Thursday (July 2, 2026). They alleged that the State government had been deliberately ignoring the survival issues raised by bus operators since the scheme’s launch.They claimed that the surge in women passengers availing themselves of free travel on KSRTC buses had already disrupted the regular service schedules of many private bus operators. They said the sharp decline in the number of regular passengers on several village and urban routes had come as an unexpected blow to private operators already walking a tightrope financially.A senior leader of the association, addressing the hunger strike, said the government’s failure to identify the most deserving beneficiaries through a sensible screening mechanism had dealt a blow to the ailing private bus sector. The scheme could have been accepted by all if it had been limited to eligible categories of passengers, such as women from lower-income groups, the unemployed, senior citizens, or those with serious ailments, the leader added.“The government failed to initiate any practical measures to compensate private bus operators for their losses. Instead, it shifted the entire burden onto helpless private bus owners, asking them to devise their own measures to overcome the crisis,” said C. Baburaj, a private bus owner. He added private bus operators would not be able to come up with independent measures to attract passengers, particularly at a time of steep fuel price hikes and rising taxes, without adequate support from the State government.Association leaders, including district president K.T. Vasudevan and secretary Beeran Koya, said the financial burden of implementing welfare schemes aimed at winning public support and political mileage should not be placed on private bus owners and workers. They said local bus operators were already facing an acute financial crisis, and the recent hike in fuel prices, coupled with rising maintenance costs and higher wages, had forced many operators to quit the sector in search of other viable livelihoods.. Published - July 03, 2026 11:28 pm IST