Karnataka govt mulls deploying private buses

But striking workers say any such move would lead to violence

The state government on Saturday said it was exploring the option of deploying private bus operators from Monday as 17,000 buses didn’t operate on the second day of the strike by workers of the road transport corporations (RTC).

Transport Minister Laxman Savadi said the strike was instigated by outsiders and reiterated his position to hold talks with “workers” to discuss the issues.

Sources close to the minister clarified that the government may deploy private buses if issues were not resolved on Sunday.

“Efforts will be made to resolve issues tomorrow, failing which we will initiate talks with private bus players,” the source said, while maintaining that farmer leader Kodihalli Chandrashekhar could not be entertained as the representative of the RTC workers.

“He is not part of any union or association of RTC workers,” the source explained.

The protesting workers, however, refused to come to the negotiating table if not represented by Chandrashekhar and warned that deploying private buses may lead to violence.

Late Saturday evening, they took a memorandum to the minister, which also intimated that the farmers’ leader has been selected as the honorary president of RTC workers.

To a question, Chandrashekhar told DH that the government has called another meeting but he has not been invited.

“We don’t know who has been invited for the meeting. We only know that the invitees do not include those sitting on the road for the last two days demanding justice,” he said, indicating that talks may not go anywhere.

Sources in a trade union told DH that they have requested the government not to force their members to work amid strike.

“This will create division and animosity among workers. We leave it to the government to take a worker-friendly approach to end the strike,” he said.

Meanwhile, lakhs of commuters continued to be inconvenienced as services remained curtailed.

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) operated 126 of the 5,000 buses while the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) operated 210 of the 5,500 buses. The North East Karnataka Transport Corporation operated 54 of its 3,678 buses.