Assam transport strike lifted, vehicles to ply from tomorrow

GUWAHATI: The commercial vehicle owners in Assam have decided to lift its 48-hour transportation strike that it called across the state.

The Assam Motor Worker Association (AMWA) representatives announced that the time frame of the strike has been reduced to 24 hours.

With this, commercial vehicles across Assam will resume its operations from 5 am of Saturday (January 06).

This decision to reduce the timeline of the strike was taken by the AMWA following discussions with the state’s transport department.

According to reports, a five-hour long discussion was held between the Assam transport department officials and the AMWA representatives on Friday (January 05).

The association decided to reduce the duration of the strike by 24 hours as the hit-and-run law under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has not been implemented yet.

Notably, the strike was called by the AMWA in protest against the proposed hit-and-run law that states that any driver who causes the death of a person by rash and negligent driving and flees from the spot without reporting the accident to the authorities could be jailed for up to 10 years and/or be fined.

“Whoever causes death of any person by rash and negligent driving of vehicle not amounting to culpable homicide, and escapes without reporting it to a police officer or a magistrate soon after the incident, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description of a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine,” Section 106 (2) of the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita says.