Lakhs of Namma Metro commuters heaved a sigh of relief after the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited union did not go ahead with their strike plan on Monday, after the High Court asked the State government to intervene and try to resolve the issues between the management and the union.
The train services remained normal through the day.
The BMRCL had put in contingency plans to ensure smooth operations in the event of a strike, including approaching the Kochi metro to send 20 loco pilots to operate the trains. The plan was dropped after the court directive. Mahendra Jain, MD, BMRCL, said that the corporation was fully prepared to operate the services, provide security to the staff and the public, and take action against the staff if they went on strike. “We had certified, trained staff to operate the trains, to man the stations, to secure the sensitive installations and had even arranged for Kochi train operators to augment our resources. I am happy that better sense has prevailed. Repeated strike calls (three in last three months) create a lot of uncertainty and apprehension among people, as well as it’s a drain on our resources. We hope that this will not recur.”
Suryanarayana Murthy, vice president, BMRCL Employees Union said, “In the past, several conciliation meetings were held but no issue was resolved. We hope this time employees will get justice.”