Chennai: State transport department is endangering public life by engaging amateur drivers and buses are now operated without daily maintenance, overhauling and brake inspections, striking government bus drivers told DC.
According to them, 15,000 buses of the total 22,500 are old and operated beyond utility period.
“More than six depots in Chennai along with the fleet have been mortgaged with oil companies and other financial institutions ,” said a 50-year-old MTC driver.
There is no maintenance of the buses and mileage is an issue and the transport corporations in Tamil Nadu are no longer getting awards for fuel efficiency, he said.
“So far, several rounds of talks by ministers and state officials have failed and we are ready to face any departmental action. The state administrators have misused our hard earned money and now they are threatening us legally,” said a bus conductor in Tambaram depot.
“In a nutshell, the state has looted the money of transport workers. Is it not a crime to divert the pension and provident fund and the public should understand the pain of retired transport workers who are denied their dues,” veteran trade union leader A Soundarajan of CPI (M) said.
According to the consortium of trade union members, more than 90 per cent of transport workers participated in the second day of strike and 100 per cent of maintenance staff also joined in.
The existing bus drivers of MTC are aware of road conditions and they know about buses and their faults, operating the old buses with amateurs will only endanger public safety, the consortium said in a statement.
Tension prevailed in Kancheepuram depot over exchange of words between retired bus drivers and depot managers. For the third consecutive day, police personnel were seen deployed in large numbers in front of all the depots. However, no untoward incident was reported from Chennai.
