Public buses resume services in Bengaluru after road transport workers' unions call off strike

BENGALURU: Public transport buses resumed services on Wednesday evening after road transport workers' unions called off their indefinite strike that lasted nearly three days and had forced the government to declare a holiday for schools and colleges.

The protest was withdrawn after transport minister Ramalinga Reddy assured union leaders of a 12.5% wage hike. While the workers demanded a 35% hike, the government was willing for 10%.

"A consensus was reached on a lot of our demands and the government has assured us that they will be implemented within 20 days. Employees will return to duty immediately . We apologise for the inconvenience caused to the public but it was inevitable," All-Karnataka State Transport Employees Union president KS Sharma announced.

A joint committee comprising union leaders and government officials will work on addressing various other demands of the transport employees, Sharma added.

Schools and colleges, which were closed for three consecutive days due to the strike, will resume Thursday .

An estimated 23,000 buses operated by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and two other state-run transport corporations in the state had been off roads.

Bengaluru was the worst hit as BMTC, with a fleet of 6,300 buses, ca ters to almost half the city's population -about 50 lakh. As a result, the three-day stir resulted in a marked increase in traffic as citizens were forced to use their own vehicles.

KSRTC managing director Rajendra Kumar Kataria said the 12.5% hike is on the gross salary of the employees."Those employees who did not show up for work will lose three days' salary," he said. The hike covers dearness allowance, provident fund, house rent allowance and other emoluments, according to KSRTC Staff and Workers Federation general secretary HV Anantha Subbarao.

Officials estimate that the three-day protest caused a turnover loss of Rs 69 crore across all four road transport corporations.

`Improve the Services'

With the strike called off, the government should now look at what is ailing the bus sector and invest concretely to improve services, said Vinay K Sreenivasa from the Bangalore Bus Commuters Forum. "Those using public transport are mostly the urban poor. The government should stop looking at public transport from a profit-or-loss perspective," he said.