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Bus services hit as RTC workers begin strike
Bengaluru The Karnataka government on Wednesday said it incurred losses to the tune of around ₹17 crore due to the strike called by employees of the four major state-run bus corporations
Bengaluru
The Karnataka government on Wednesday said it incurred losses to the tune of around ₹17 crore due to the strike called by employees of the four major state-run bus corporations.
Around 1.3 lakh workers of the transport corporations -- Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC), and North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC) -- started their strike on Wednesday over unfulfilled demands to be paid on par with the sixth pay commission.
In Bengaluru, where public buses ferry around 45 lakh passengers a day, the number was down to a few thousand due to the strike.
“Normally there are 5,600 buses in Bengaluru. But on Wednesday, there were 145 buses from BMTC, 1,124 private buses and 2,000 maxi cabs were allowed to ferry people as permitted by the transport department,” said an official of BMTC, requesting anonymity.
Thousands of people were left stranded in Bengaluru and other parts of the state as buses account for most of the mass transport options in Karnataka and its capital.
With buses off the road, auto-rickshaws and cabs reportedly charged over double the average cost of commute in most places.
Karnataka chief secretary P Ravi Kumar on Wednesday wrote to the Railways for special train services to mitigate the impact of the bus strike.
“This (strike) will cause severe hardship to travelling public. In addition due to upcoming festivals there will be a rush of people going out of Bangalore to their native places,” Kumar wrote in a letter to the general manager of the southwestern railways.
The chief secretary requested for special trains on April 9 and 10.
“The government has not called us for any talks but continue to give statements in the media that they are ready for talks. The government has asked to call off the strike and then come for talks which is conditional and could prolong the stalemate,” Vijay Bhaskar, a senior office bearer of the transport workers union, said.
He said the government had threatened to use Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) against them and was also creating an adverse public opinion against their legitimate demands to be paid on par with government employees.
