BHUBANESWAR : Commuters across the state may face a tough time on Wednesday as more than 17,000 private buses will go off the roads. Though the state government agreed to several demands of the All Odisha Private Bus Owners Association , the latter decided to go ahead with its strike from Wednesday to seek separate routes for city buses and private buses.With the Plus II and degree examinations in different colleges on at present, the strike may cause inconvenience to students, office-goers and other commuters. "We have arranged a cab to take us to our exam centre, around 25 km from here. It cost us a lot of money," said Subrat Das, a Plus II student of Nayagarh.People in Bhubaneswar, Khurda, Cuttack, Puri, Sambalpur and Rourkela may not be much affected because the city buses will continue their services. School buses across the state will not be part of the strike."We decided to go ahead with the strike because the government did not pay heed to our demand for separate routes for city and private buses," said Debasis Nayak, spokesperson of the association.Transport minister Nrusingha Sahu said the government had considered the demands with sympathy. "The meeting was cordial and we are open to further talks," he said.

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