The stand-off between road corporation workers and the State government, which will continue on Sunday, has caused much inconvenience to people, who have either put off their travel plans or made alternative arrangements. Drivers and conductors, who launched an indefinite strike on December 11 demanding that they be considered government employees, are showing no signs of relenting and reporting back to work.
Kodihalli Chandrashekar, president of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, who is leading the protests, announced on Saturday that the protesters would go on a hunger strike from Sunday. Chandrashekar R., president of Sarige Noukararu Sarakari Noukararaguva Horatada Okkoota, told The Hindu that a representation was submitted to the Minister concerned on Saturday evening. “I am hopeful of a meeting between protesters, headed by our honorary president Kodihalli Chandrashekar, and the government.”
On Saturday night, Transport Minister Laxman Savadi, after a meeting with the Chief Minister, told the reporters that a meeting has been scheduled with union leaders at 10 a.m. on Sunday. The Minister said that he is hopeful of resolving the issues within the financial limits of the government.
Mr. Savadi had said earlier that if the strike continued, private operators would be asked to run buses and other passenger transport vehicles from Sunday as an alternative measure. He said private buses would ferry passengers as per the fares fixed by the government.
“We are hopeful that the protesting employees will come forward for talks and the issues will get resolved. If they continue with the strike, private operators will be asked to run buses from Bengaluru to districts, and from the district levels to taluk and village levels. Even in Bengaluru Urban area, private buses will be operated,” he had said.
However, private operators claimed that they were not consulted by the government on this. Nataraj Sharma, chairman of Karnataka State Tourist Operators’ Association, said, “No one approached us. The Minister has come out with such a statement to create confusion among protesters. We had asked the Minister to waive taxes as private operators suffered huge losses because of the pandemic, but he never entertained [our pleas]. Now, he is talking about allowing us to run buses when corporation employees are on strike.” He added that if allowed to run buses, private operators may not agree to go by the fares fixed by the government.
Buses remain off the road
The general public continued to suffer as most buses remained off the road on Saturday. Employees of corporations refused to take buses out from the depots, leaving people, including the elderly, women, children and patients who had come to the city for treatment, stranded at bus stops.
Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) could operate only a skeleton service. Till Saturday evening, the BMTC operated 126 buses out of over 4,800 schedules, while the KSRTC operated 180 buses from around 6,000 schedules.
“In Bengaluru, miscreants pelted stones at four buses, including airport service buses at HSR Layout and Ring Road,” said an official. Three KSRTC buses were damaged in stone pelting. The police have also taken some miscreants into custody.
CM slams Kodihalli
In a press release, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa lambasted Mr. Kodihalli Chandrashekar and accused him of “instigating” transport employees.
The Transport Minister also said that Mr. Chandrashekar was not connected to the transport corporations in the State.
In his response to the Chief Minister, Mr. Chandrashekar said that employees were voluntarily participating in the strike and no one was forcing them.
C. Shikha, MD of Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, told the media if employees continued to protest and disrupt essential services by ignoring the State government’s invitation for discussions, they would face action as per the Essential Services Maintenance Act. But protesters said they were ready to face any such action.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar met the protesters at Banashankari bus stand and told them that the Congress was with them. Former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy also asked the government to resolve the problem in the interest of the public.