Bus strike: Govt threatens stern action against agitators

The Government has decided to take stern action against agitating KSRTC and BMTC workers. The Government has threatened to dismiss 15, 000 drivers and conductors, who are under probation, if they don’t report to work by 4 p.m today.

The state Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav has instructed to the Depot Managers of all the four divisions of KSRTC to appoint candidates from waiting list if the probationers fail to join work.    

 

The threat seems to have worked as probationers are willing to join duty. In addition to that, the government has decided to assign two constables in every bus for security purpose. 

 

Commuters are already heading towards Majestic and Shivajinagar bus stations expecting that bus services might be resumed by evening.  

 

However, the state government has not taken any decision on ESMA.

 

“The KSRTC is running under loss. We can’t give 35% hike in the salary. I request the employees to give up the protest and attend to the duties. We certainly are not in a position to hike the salary by more than 10%,” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said.

 

Meanwhile, hundreds of commuters were stranded today in Bengaluru and elsewhere in Karnataka as state-owned KSRTC and BMTC workers' strike entered day two.

 

Over one lakh employees are agitating demanding among other things a salary hike of 35%. About 29000 buses remained off the roads in different parts of Karnataka.

 

Reports from Bengaluru add that autos and private vehicles are over charging from commuters. Metros are overcrowded during peak hours. So far about 2,000 complaints were filed against autos for overcharging. 

 

Nine districts (Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Chikkamagalur, Shimoga, Davanagere, Haveri, Tumkur, Vijayapura, Chamarajanagar, Chitradurga) have so far not declared a holiday for schools and colleges, making commute difficult. District administration in Hassan was forced to declare holiday today.

 

As an alternate arrangement, KSRTC has engaged around 300 buses from neighbouring states. The RTO has also allowed permission to buses of other states.