COIMBATORE: The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) has been blamed for allowing drivers and conductors to continue in the Traffic Controller (TC) post at depots across the state in violation of norms.
Several bus crew alleged that as per norms, the post should be allocated only to office staff; however, drivers and conductors who are functionaries of unions affiliated with the ruling party are being appointed to the post.
A driver with the TNSTC in Coimbatore, C Ganesh (name changed), told TNIE that unions were originally formed to safeguard the rights and welfare of bus crew, but over time this objective has been diluted, with unions affiliated to the ruling party allegedly dominating and harassing the workforce.
"The role of the TC post is to assign daily duties to drivers and conductors and grant leave. However, in reality, in most depots, duties are allocated at their discretion. If the bus crew are known to them or belong to a union, they are favoured with short-distance routes, while those they dislike or those from Scheduled Castes (SC) are assigned long-distance and high-rush routes," he alleged.
He alleged that caste-related atrocities also take place at depots, including the denial of leave to SC bus crew, assignment to long-distance routes, and being forced to take on additional duties.
"Recently, an apparent act of caste discrimination occurred at the Mettupalayam depot as an influential driver affiliated with the LPF smeared an SC branch manager’s office floor with cow dung after he got the latter transferred. The former had managed to change six branch managers excercising his political power. In many depots, caste discrimination is against SC bus crew is practiced both directly and indirectly," he said.
N Krishnamoorthy, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Government Transport Uniform Employees Union, told TNIE that as per norms, drivers and conductors should perform only their core duties and not office work such as becoming TCs or handling cashier responsibilities. He reminded court directions also affirm this.
"However, officers say that due to staff shortage, drivers and conductors have been deployed to these posts. Although only bus crew affiliated with the ruling party have been posted there due to political influence, senior bus crew and those with disabilities have not been appointed. Even candidates appointed to TNSTC on compassionate grounds have been denied these posts. Hence, TC posts should be given only to office staff or checking inspectors with three years' experience, and bus crew should be removed from this post," he urged.
When asked about it, an officer from the TNSTC Coimbatore region, expressed helplessness.
"Due to strong political support and influence enjoyed by the TCs, who are union functionaries controlling depot officers too, the officers cannot take any independent action. This is a major drawback. Higher officers of the State transport department take this as a serious matter."
When contacted, a senior officer from the transport department told TNIE that he would definitely look into this matter.