Chennai: Transport unions announced ‘suspension’ of their bus strike that had crippled public transportation for the last couple of days. The late night decision on Tuesday was arrived at after marathon discussions with a team of three ministers at the Secretariat following an order of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court declaring the strike as illegal and telling the government it could invoke ESMA (Essential Services Maintenance Act) against the workers persisting with the strike.
The union leaders accepted the promise of the state government to sanction Rs. 1,000 crore immediately and Rs. 250 crore in September. Three ministers - K.A. Sengottaiyan, P. Thangamani and M.R. Vijayabaskar - held negotiations with the union leaders till late on Tuesday.
More than one lakh transport employees will return to operate the about 22,000 buses from Wednesday morning.
The strike which continued for the second day paralysed public transport throughout the state. The government pressed about 600 private buses, besides new workers to run the operations in Chennai, which does not have an alternate option of private buses. However, suburbs near Tambaram and Avadi did not have any relief as passengers were forced to rely on electric trains, share autos and cabs.
The number of government buses was lesser than Monday, as most of the AIADMK union members too did not operate the buses. The transport union of the AIADMK is already weak, but the party present leadership does not seem to have any control over its union members who joined the opposition ranks without supporting their own party government.
Bus transport was affected throughout the state, but delta districts including Tiruchy had another option in private buses. The northern districts where the private buses were few and the suburbs which did not have government or private buses bore the brunt of the strike. The government bus brought a total of 620 private buses to run the operations in the city. The trains to Chengalpattu were heavily crowded due to lack of bus services, but people did not have any option other than wading into the crowded trains as the mercury remained high throughout the day.
Normally, about 3,300 buses used to operate in Chennai city and the addition of 620 buses was inadequate for the demands of Chennaiites. Most of the people in the city relied on share autos and auotrickshaws, besides cabs. Buses were operated from Koyambedu to Broadway, Tambaram, Tiruvanmiyur, Redhills, Avadi and Thirumazhisai. People were waiting for buses under the sweltering heat in Tamabaram Poonamalee to go to the interior suburbs. But, the only option was share autos and autorickshaws for the common people.
While most people were found stranded in various bus stops on Monday, the crowd was less on Tuesday since people preferred to stay indoors due to the transport strike and the scorching summer heat.
But, the office goers and those who had to travel for their business or essential activities had to depend on electric trains and autorickshaws.
A large number of people were waiting in Tambaram till midnight on Monday since all the buses were stopped after 9 pm. But , people who got wiser reached their homes earlier on Tuesday and the crowds in bus stops were lesser even at around 7 pm. The number of students who were seen travelling to various colleges for admission was also lesser since parents did not prefer Tuesday to get an application or submit them. Since, schools and colleges had not opened, the bus strike did not affect the students who are on vacation.
