Bus services across state hit as confusion, differences of opinion prevail among transport staff unions

BENGALURU: Bus services across the state were affected due to the strike call given by the employees’ unions of the four transport corporations in the state. In Bengaluru, autorickshaw drivers made hay, charging in excess of meter fare while the Namma Metro saw increased ridership.

With the High Court of Karnataka directing the transport corporation unions to put off the strike by a day on Monday, confusion seemed to prevail among the different bodies. Even as many buses stayed off the roads on Tuesday, one faction of the KSRTC employees’ federation stayed away from the strike while another faction led by Chandru participated.

The Joint Action Committee had announced going ahead with the strike on Monday, but after the high court directive, opinion was divided among the leaders over going ahead with the stir. The transport corporation staff too were confused whether to participate in the strike or not.

With partial services, private buses were roped in while, in Bengaluru, the BMTC had deployed more electric buses. Those heading to work and children heading to schools were badly affected across the state. Women, who are allowed free travel in buses under the Shakti scheme, were in for a shock when private bus operators demanded that they pay the fare.

At several places acrosss the state, private buses were allowed into government bus stands to pick up stranded passengers. While the BMTC claimed that 99.6 pc of its operations were normal, KKRTC had recorded 28 per cent operations till noon, KSRTC 42.9 per cent and NWKRTC 57 per cent.