BENGALURU: Despite request by managements of the four transport corporations and a deadline set for agitating employees to report to duty after Ugadi, the unions continued with their indefinite strike, with buses staying off the road on the eight day on Wednesday. Transport department officials said that the total revenue loss from April 7 to 14 was Rs 152 crore. Of this, Rs 70 crore was from KSRTC, Rs 20 crore from BMTC, Rs 30.5 crore from NWKRTC and Rs 31.5 crore from NEKRTC.
A total of 35 buses have been damaged, which include the Ambaari Dream Class, Volvo and multi-axel buses. Also, a total of 3,402 buses have operated in all the four corporations. In all, 5,551 private buses have operated for KSRTC, 1,912 for NWKRTC, 1,912 BMTC and 3,867 for NEKRTC. Transport Minister Laxman Savadi said that since last seven days, the government has been trying to talk with the unions.
So far, some employees have returned to work, but there are also instances of some of them being attacked. “I have been giving appreciation certificates to all those who came back to work and will continue to do so. The unions must understand that buses should not be damaged. Police complaints have been filed against miscreants and legal action is being taken,” he said.
The transport officials are also working on taking stern action against all those who are still not keen to come back to work, those who are instigating others and are threatening those reporting to duty. “Employees are coming to work by trusting us. But if they are attacked, they will not come back the next day and we do not want that to happen. So, we are talking to the police if more security can be deployed and immediate arrests can be done,” a transport official said. On Wednesday, a day after Ugadi, other state transport bus operations from Bengaluru were 542 to Tamil Nadu, 360 to Andhra Pradesh, 44 to Telangana and 32 to Kerala.