Despite the strike called by transport trade unions, the Coimbatore division of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) claimed that over 70 % of buses were operated in Coimbatore district on Thursday.
According to TNSTC officials, around 663 town and mofussil buses out of the total 868 buses were operated within Coimbatore district. All these buses were operated using permanent government employees such as drivers, conductors and supervisors and no contract workers were utilised. Due to this, the commuters in the district were not affected, they claimed.
However, general secretary of CITU Coimbatore unit M. Velankanni Raj claimed that around 65 % of the buses were not operated in the district on Thursday and that only 20 buses were operated per TNSTC branch in the district.
Apart from TNSTC buses, private buses were operated in the district as usual.
According to V. Duraikannan, president of Coimbatore District Bus Owners Association (South), around 450 buses including 150 town buses were operated in the district on Thursday.
Nine Opposition trade unions such as LPF, CITU, AITUC and INTUC called for a State-wide strike on Thursday accusing the State government of not completing the wage talks.
In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, the unions condemned the interim relief announced by Transport Minister and demanded clarity on the next round of talks.
Tourists affected in the Nilgiris
With very few buses being operated in the Nilgiris, tourists were the most affected. Many tourists were forced to hire taxis or were reliant on autorickshaws to travel outside the Nilgiris and to popular tourist spots.
R. Rajesh, a college student from Tiruppur, said he and his friends were planning to return home after visiting the Nilgiris in bus on Thursday, but because of the strike, they decided to book a taxi. “As taxis are in demand, they are charging around ₹ 2,500 to ₹ 3,000 for an one-way journey to Tiruppur,” he said.
TNSTC officials claimed that 40 % of the buses were plying throughout the Nilgiris on Thursday, with 30 drivers also being temporarily brought in.
They admitted that very few buses were plying to neighbouring districts.