Temporary truce to syces' issue

In a temporary solution to the syces issue, the trainers on Tuesday agreed to reinstate well-mannered stablehands after thoroughly screening them.

The decision was arrived at after representatives of the Karnataka Trainers Association (KTA), Karnataka Racehorse Owners Association (KROA) and Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) management members held a meeting with Additional Commissioner of Police (Law & Order), T Suneel Kumar, and Roshan Baig, MLA of Shivaji Nagar constituency.

“In the meeting, the trainers agreed to take back well behaved syces, but only after thoroughly screening them. Those who indulged in violence earlier this month will not be allowed to rejoin, in any case. For the time being, we will pay only the earlier salary.

However, after the Invitation Cup, the syces have to sign an agreement for their permanent appointment. From that point, we will pay the revised salary (with effect from January 2012) stated in the memorandum of understanding,” said one of the top officials who attended the meeting.

The official was also surprised to see one of the syces’ leaders, wanted in incidences of the violence against the owners, freely moving around during the meeting. “One of the accused in the violence was freely wandering there during the meeting. We were surprised to see him. He should have been arrested. We were told that he was absconding. When we inquired about his presence in the meeting, he soon left,” added the official.

The official also added that MLA Baig had given full assurance that the rejoining syces would not resort to any sort of violence in future.