Of the 70-80 buses plying from the SBSTC's Durgapur depot, only 15-20 transported passengers due to staff shortage. Representational image from WB Bus services were affected in several parts of the state as a number of contractual employees of the South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC) continued their strike on Sunday.
The protesting staff, mainly drivers and their assistants, have threatened to go on strike for an indefinite period if their demands are not met. They are demanding equal pay for equal work with regular staff, job regularisation among others things, its is learnt.
Of the 70-80 buses plying from the SBSTC’s Durgapur depot, only 15-20 transported passengers due to staff shortage. In Bankura, nearly 160 contractual workers have been protesting in front of the SBSTC depot. The strike is also being observed in Purulia where government bus service is available on just 12 routes against the 30 routes earlier.
Transport Minister Snehashis Chakraborty appealed to the workers to withdraw their strike. “I will try to resolve their demands in the best of my capacity. We all know that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is a people’s leader. We understand that the contractual employees too have families to feed. I have appealed to them that the general public is being harassed since it is Durga Puja time. Such acts don’t suit them,” he said.