KSRTC employees strike inconvenience public

MYSORE: The ever-busy bus stop on Irwin Road adjoining KSRTC suburban bus stand on Thursday wore a deserted look with public transport vehicles being off the roads, protesting "unilateral" wage revision. The strike also prompted some section of the public to remain indoors.
The protest inconvenienced regular commuters like office-goers, students and labourers who were chiefly dependent on public transport.The windshield of a city bus was damaged by two motorbike-borne miscreants near Gun House junction, and a bus driver was allegedly threatened by an auto driver.
The Irwin Road bus stop - from where commuters board buses to various upscale localities, hospitals, clinical laboratories, colleges and industries - was completely deserted. Shankar, a PU student and a pass holder, claimed that he was stranded at the city bus stand because of the protest. He didn't have money to return his place, some 9km from there. A woman employee of commercial tax office, who is a regular bus commuter, said her relative dropped her to the office.
Kumareshana, a police sub-inspector from Tamil Nadu, who was here along with his family, was also inconvenienced due to the strike. The family was seen waiting for a bus for over an hour at the suburban bus stand. Mujahideen, another commuter, said KSRTC operated only Volvo buses to Bangalore. People from middle-class like him, who couldn't afford the Volvo fare, faced difficulty.
KSRTC traffic officer (urban) Swamy Gowda told TOI that they could operate only 10 of the total 425 buses as the crew abstained from work. There are about 1,600 bus drivers and conductors in the urban division. Every day, 3,500 schedules are operated from the city bus stand.
The officer confirmed that a bus (route No. 205) heading towards Suttur was damaged because of stone-throwing near Gun House junction. The driver of JP Nagar-bound bus driver was allegedly threatened by an auto driver.
KSRTC (rural) divisional controller T R Naveen claimed that though they operated buses, there were no commuters on Thursday. Traffic officer (rural) Chandrashekar said about 2,500 employees work in the rural division, and majority of them supported the protest by striking work.
"We will continue our protest until our demands are met. We are demanding 30% hike in salary. We are against unilateral wage revision. The government should also regularize the jobs of 33,000 employees who are on contract. Preventive arrest warrant has been issued against 29 union members, and therefore they all have gone underground to put pressure on the government," says H R Sheshadri secretary, ksrtc union (urban)
"We had appealed the employees not to inconvenience regular commuters, but workers from our division have joined the protest. Talks are on to tackle the issue, and we are waiting for orders from our higher-ups, says M N Srinivas divisional controller, ksrtc (urban)
"We had prepared to handle the increase in passenger traffic by opening an additional ticket counter at the city railway station following strike by KSRTC employees. But passenger traffic was less than the normal days on Thursday, probably due lack of city bus service and statewide protest, says Anoop Dayanand Sadu senior divisional commercial manager, south western railway.