Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses remain parked at a bus station | Photo credit: IANS
Bangalore: A day after holding protest rallies, employees of transport corporations in Karnataka on Friday went on strike, pressing for their demands. The strike interrupted the services of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) in Bengaluru and the services of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) in the rest of Karnataka.
Several videos uploaded by users on Twitter showed that commuters were stranded due to today’s BMTC and KSRTC bus strike.
Transportation workers have been seeking government employee status. They want the same privileges or incentives that are given to government employees and also 30 lakh rupee compensation to relatives of transport workers, who lost their lives during COVID-19 service.
More than 1.2 lakh workers are employed in four state-run trucking corporations: KSRTC, BMTC, North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC) and North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC).
Services were affected as most of the transportation employees did not show up for service this morning.
Meanwhile, farmers protesting the new farm laws have also supported today’s bus strike.
On Thursday, hundreds of transport company employees, trade unionists and some of the farmers’ unions staged protest demonstrations.
Farmers want two amendments to be repealed: one related to Karnataka’s agrarian reforms that lift restrictions on land purchases, and the other related to Agricultural Marketing Committees that allow traders to approach farmers directly to buy. Harvest.
In November, Karnataka’s chief minister, BS Yediyurappa, had decided to release the salaries of nearly 1.3 lakhs of employees working in state transport companies. It was done after employees expressed disappointment at not receiving their October salary and requested an advance payment of at least 15,000 rupees.
