BENGALURU: Talks between the state government and members of the Federation of Karnataka State Private Transport Associations, who have called for a Bengaluru bandh on September 11, didn’t yield any results. While Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy tried to persuade the federation to withdraw the bandh on Thursday, they are firm in not withdrawing it until they receive a written assurance from the government of fulfilling their promise.
The federation, which has an affiliate of 32 private buses, cabs and auto unions, has been urging the state government to compensate for the alleged losses incurred after the roll out of the Shakti scheme, which has been offering free travel to women in non-premium government buses across the state.
Federation members said they were invited for talks with the transport minister through Transport Commissioner A M Yogeesh but nothing concrete came out of the meeting.
Nataraj Sharma, nominated president of the federation, said, “While the federation has placed various demands to be fulfilled, our major demand is compensation for the loss of revenue due to the Shakti scheme. However, there was no commitment from the transport minister on it. We have made it clear that the bandh will not be withdrawn until the government commits to fulfilling the compensation demand in writing.”
Sharma said the minister has sought time till Friday to discuss on the compensation part with the transport commissioner. Meanwhile, the federation members are engaged in spreading wide awareness for their Bengaluru bandh by distributing pamphlets and pasting posters on the private buses and autos going across the state.
Reddy holds meeting
Ramalinga Reddy also held a meeting with the officials of the Transport Department, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and senior officials of the police department and discussed the measures to be taken to resolve the problems that may arise to the general public because of the bandh called by the federation. He asked officials of the state bus corporations to deploy additional buses on routes dominated by private buses, autos and cabs.
Plaint against official
The federation lodged a complaint with the transport commissioner demanding action against Additional Transport Commissioner Hemanth Kumar, alleging that he had dropped the names of the 32 affiliate unions for the meeting on August 31.