The Karnataka State Travels Operators Association (KSTOA) has formally petitioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the government’s current national energy security protocols and introduce measures to safeguard the transport sector.
The petition follows the Prime Minister’s seven appeals to the nation in a public address in Hyderabad on May 10. These appeals included postponing foreign travel for at least a year, reducing gold purchase, cutting fuel and edible oil consumption, encouraging remote work, reducing dependence on chemical fertilisers, and avoiding foreign goods.
The president of the KSTOA, K Radhakrishna Holla, said the suggestions that encouraged work from home, carpooling, and reduction in travel created “concern and uncertainty among employee transport operators and commercial vehicle owners”.
In a letter dated May 12, 2026, Holla said that the employee transport industry generates lakhs of jobs across the country, but receives no major government support. This has led to thousands of transport entrepreneurs relying on vehicle loans, mortgage loans, and overdraft facilities to purchase vehicles and operate businesses.
He added that the industry had only recently started recovering, following the COVID-19 pandemic, Kashmir terror disturbances, and global economic instability, only for the industry to receive another major setback through the PM’s appeals.
“Employee transport is not a luxury service. It is an essential duty connected to the daily mobility of lakhs of employees and the functioning of organised industries,” he said. He added that a reduction in travel activity will directly affect vehicle owners, drivers, support staff, and thousands of dependent families whose livelihoods.
Holla requested the Union government to introduce special protective measures for the transport, tourism, and service sectors, urging it to consider the concerns of hardworking small entrepreneurs and service-sector businesses through “balanced policies that protect both national interests and livelihood-dependent sectors.”
Holla also called for the government to prioritise international diplomatic negotiations, energy supply stabilisation, strategic fuel security planning, and balanced economic protection measures.
“India is emerging as the world’s fourth-largest economic power. In such a situation, the country should play a more active international diplomatic role in resolving issues related to the Hormuz Strait and global energy transportation disruptions,” he said.
This article was written by a student interning with The News Minute.