Six transport employees on strike fall ill in Belagavi

Belagavi: The indefinite agitation of the employees of the transport department, under the banner of ‘Like-minded employees forum of transport corporation’, ongoing near Suvarna Vidhana Soudha (SVS) here, reached its 5th day on Friday.
Six employees, who were on an indefinite fast, fell ill on Thursday evening and were admitted to the Belagavi Institute of Medical Sciences (BIMS) hospital. They again began an indefinite fast on Friday. In addition, six more employees joined them.
Transport minister B Sriramulu, who visited the spot a couple of days ago, tried to convince the employees by assuring them that he would make it right. However, employees did not heed his assurances, claiming they were vague and not concrete.
Many employees have been suspended and transferred by the government for taking part in the two-week-long bus strike in April 2021, seeking pay hikes, led by farmer leader Kodihalli Chandrashekhar. These employees are from all four road transport corporations in the state, including BMTC.
They want the suspension to be revoked and the employees reinstated. They are also asking that transfers be cancelled and the status quo implemented back to April 6, 2021. They are also demanding the withdrawal of police cases lodged against employees.
Speaking to the TOI, R Chandra Shekhar, president of the forum, who is also engaged in an indefinite fast, said: “For the fulfillment of our demands, we have given memorandums to DCs of 18 districts by conducting a bicycle rally of 1,938 km for 46 days. However, the government did not care about us. As a result, we have begun an indefinite strike, he said.