Passengers bear the brunt of sudden transport strike

The sudden strike by staff working in North Eastern Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC), a State-owned enterprise primarily working in Kalyana Karnataka area, left passengers stranded throughout the area on Friday. Passengers ready for his or her buses in stands throughout cities and cities in the area was a standard scene to be seen.

As per data offered by the NEKRTC authorities in Kalaburagi, the bus companies at 839 of the 2,247 routes in Bidar, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal, and Ballari had been cancelled owing to the strike.

At sure locations like Kalaburagi, passengers resorted to spontaneous protest condemning the transport employees for inflicting inconvenience to the individuals who, being unaware of the strike, got here to bus stands.

In Ballari additionally, passengers had been discovered arguing with the protesting transport employees.

“If the people were notified about the scheduled strike well in advance, the people would have planned their journey accordingly. Those who were on urgent and unavoidable tasks would have arranged private vehicles. This kind of surprised and sudden strike by the employees is unacceptable,” a passenger in Ballari mentioned.

Demonstrations

At different locations, transport employees together with conductors, drivers and mechanics staged demonstrations demanding that the authorities think about them as State authorities staff and clear the wage dues. “We have been working hard to offer smooth and safe transport services to the people. But, we are facing so many problems and nobody is listening to our woes. The government should consider all the employees working in the four transport corporations – KSRTC, NEKRTC, NWKRTC and BMTC – as the employees of the government and extend all the benefits to them,” an worker who participated in the strike in Ballari mentioned.

When the staff had been staging an illustration at the Ballari Bus Stand, an officer visited the agitating website and famous down the names of the staff who had been main the protest. The staff alleged that the larger authorities would later harass the staff who had been at the forefront of the agitation.

The Kalaburagi Central Bus Stand was full of ready passengers. The larger authorities had been discovered repeatedly interesting, utilizing loudspeakers, to the agitating bus conductors and drivers to finish the strike and resume work to keep away from inconvenience to the passengers. However, the protesting employees didn’t heed. Taking undue benefit of the absence of bus companies, autorickshaw operators and taxi drivers in Raichur had been discovered to be exploiting commuters by overcharging.

“The bus charge for Kallur which is 25 km away from Raichur is ₹27. But the private transport operators are demanding ₹400,” a passenger mentioned.

The bus companies in Bidar and Yadgir remained largely unaffected.