KSRTC staff call off strike as Yediyurappa assures fulfillment of several demands

Bengaluru, Dec 14: Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation's (KSRTC) has called off their ongoing strike, saying that a sincere effort had been made to resolve their problems in a meeting held on Sunday with chief minister BS Yediyurappa.

As per a statement from the chief minister's office (CMO), demands of the protestors to rectify salary differences, compensate employees who died of Covid-19, and action against harassment from senior officials were promised to be fulfilled.

However, the demand for the consideration of KSRTC staff as government employees was not accepted.

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The meeting was convened by Deputy chief minister and transport minister Lakshman Savadi and home minister Basavaraj S Bommai on Sunday.

The protesters were demanding salaries equivalent to the state government employees and compensation similar to the COVID-19 warriors in the event of death due to coronavirus.

The state government has appealed to the transport department employees to call off their strike as commuters were facing hardship.

However, the employees were unrelenting.

According to officials of the KSRTC and the BMTC, these corporations have suffered a loss of about Rs 6 crore in the last three days.

The state has been witnessing back-to-back protests for the past five days since December 8.

Earlier it was the farmers' agitation and now the transport employees' strike.