Palakkad: The service will be suspended from May 1 as most of the private buses in the state are unmanned due to the spread of Covid, said T Gopinathan, general secretary, Kerala Bus Operators Organization.
He said most of the panchayats, municipalities, and corporations in the state have been made containment zones due to the spread of Covid and private buses are not being used.
He said he had applied to the government for tax exemption in the April, May, and June quarters but the buses had to be stopped as there was no decision from the government.
At least a few buses will be able to operate only if the government decides to waive the existing quarter tax in the same way as it did in January, February and March. The current tax payment deadline is May 15. T Gopinathan said that this was not a strike decision and that there was no impediment to the service of buses that could be operated profitably and no one would be forcibly stopped.
