BMTC dismisses more workers and demands fitness report from 1.7k

Bengaluru: As the indefinite transportation strike continued on Saturday, neither the state government nor the employees’ union blinked. Lakhs of commuters continued to struggle, especially those who went home for Ugadi.

However, State Transport Undertakings (STUs) operated more buses on Saturday: 1,467 (till 6 pm), compared to 855 on Friday. Of the 1,467 buses, KSRTC ran 710, BMTC 201, NEKRTC 350 and NWKRTC 206.

On Saturday, BMTC fired 118 trainees and probationary employees. Till now, 344 BMTC  staffers have been dismissed for not reporting to duty. On Saturday, KSRTC transferred 73 drivers and conductors, four traffic supervisory staff and 11 mechanical staff for not reporting to duty.

In the meantime, BMTC has released a list of 1,772 employees, including 998 drivers and 532 conductors, who are over 55 years old to submit a medical fitness report by Monday. A BMTC official said, “There is a clause which says employees above 55 years can continue in service only after they submit a medical fitness certificate. This is to prove that they have no health issues or vision problem. Those who fail to do so by Monday will be considered retired from the organisation.”

Many employees take it to be a pressure tactic. A BMTC conductor who is a part of the strike said, “They issued a notice in Saturday to submit this report on Monday. How is it possible? Sunday is a holiday. They are unnecessarily forcing us to visit hospitals during the pandemic.”

However, a BMTC official said that a report from any medical professional shall be accepted if they submit it to respective depots.

When asked about the tougher measures taken by BTMC as compared to other STUs, he said, “KSRTC, for instance, can transfer its employees to other districts as punishment. But, that’s not possible with BMTC, since employees are ready to work anywhere in Bengaluru. Last time, BMTC employees went on strike and others followed. BMTC has more trainee and probationary employees and they are joining strikes even before becoming permanent.”

The transport department allowed private buses to run on Saturday too despite the complaints of overcharging and poor frequency of services. Passengers, especially engineering students appearing for exams are affected largely.

“Continuous strike by transport employees will force many passengers to shift to other modes of transport. Once they shifted to train or metro, they may not return to buses since the other modes are safer and comfortable”, said Radhakrishna Holla, president of Karnataka State Travel Operators.

Some private operators also protested at Majestic, after STUs began operations. An operator said, “We are not getting enough passengers at bus terminals and now STUs are picking up and dropping passengers, which will affect us.”