A few RTC employees who did not participate in the strike and took to plying buses in the State on Wednesday came under severe peer pressure.
Tyagaraju, driver with Bengaluru city depot 33, drove through the day and was even felicitated by some NGOs. “While everyone in the transport sector suffered during the lockdown, my company gave us salary without even a cut, while we sat at home. I am thankful for that and hence ready to understand the financial situation of the government and co-operate,” he told media persons. However, he soon started getting threat calls from his peers, he claimed. The C.K. Achukattu police have registered a case against one Nayak, who allegedly made a threat call.
Senior BMTC bus conductor Uma, who reported to duty on Wednesday, accused Kodihalli Chandrashekar, a farmers’ leader now spearheading transport strike, of “misleading” RTC employees. “What does he know of the RTCs? The demand for the Sixth Pay Commission is a complete break from the earlier negotiations over our salary hike and this has created discontinuity on the issue. There may even be a conspiracy to pander to demands for privatisation of RTCs,” she alleged.
Bus attacked
While the strike was largely peaceful, a KSRTC bus coming to the city from Hosur was attacked with stones and its windshield damaged in Anekal on Wednesday. Two bike-borne men wearing helmets pelted stones and fled, sources said.