Bengaluru: Remaining firm on its offer of a 10 per cent hike in salaries to BMTC and KSRTC staff, the government went into overdrive on Tuesday to sabotage their indefinite strike for a bigger pay package.
Beginning with the suspension of at least 35 employees, mostly union leaders, across the state, the day saw the public transport corporations resume some of their services even as the striking staff cried foul.
As many as 12 BMTC and 69 KSRTC buses hit the roads Tuesday afternoon, leading to charges of coercion by union leaders and violence in some parts of the city.
The police did a mild lathicharge to disperse a mob that attacked crew members reporting for duty at the Majestic bus terminus and in another incident, a driver was beaten up while he was starting his bus at the Majestic bus station.
While the agitating staff were blamed for both attacks, they alleged that passengers had beaten up the driver on realising he was a mere trainee with the BMTC.
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Although KSRTC bus services continued till late night, the BMTC withdrew all its services by 6 pm, leading to protests by passengers at the Shanthinagar and Majestic bus terminuses.
But on the whole the government’s strategy appeared to have weakened the agitation as the employees climbed down from their demand for a 35 per cent pay hike.
While claiming that efforts to break the strike through coercion had failed and it would continue as planned, Mr H V Anantha Subbarao, convenor, BMTC/KSRTC Workers Federation, said the staff were ready to accept even a 20 per cent hike.
The government appeared to have worked on several fronts simultaneously to defeat the strike. While on the one hand the KSRTC and BMTC exerted pressure on training and probationary staff to resume work, norms were relaxed to allow the Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Maharashtra state corporations to operate within the state, taking the striking staff by surprise.
