From correspondents in Madhya Pradesh, India, 07:03 PM IST

The two-day-old strike by transporters in Madhya Pradesh was called off Tuesday after Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan promised to study their demands sympathetically.

More than 15,000 buses and 500 taxis had stopped plying Sunday as private bus operators began an indefinite strike demanding a 50 percent hike in fare and doing away with a three-tier taxation system.

Their other demands include formation of a fare board, permanent permits for contract buses, reducing royalty of buses on contract to 50 paise per km, and lowering value added tax on diesel by 8 percent.

A delegation of the Bus Operators Association met Chouhan after talking to Transport Minister Himmat Kothari.

Chouhan told them that a decision to 'reasonably increase the fares' would be taken in a month. The taxation and permit problems would also be resolved.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)