Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday in a stern message to the striking employees of the Road Transport Corporations said that the state government won’t accept any of their conditions and warned of stringent action against them. While speaking to the media in Bidar, the CM said that the government had already fulfilled eight of their demands and added that the ‘adamant posture’ of the employees was causing trouble to the people of the state.
"The employees have to give up their obdurate stand. We will not give salaries to those who remained absent from their job. We will take more stringent action," the CM said. The statement came after a day the striking employees threatened to ‘beg’ on the streets to mark their protest. As the strike entered day seven, employees of Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation took to the streets on Tuesday to ‘beg’ as they were not paid salaries for March. Anand, Chief of BMTC Workers’ Union, said that this highlighted the plight of the employees of all state-owned transport corporations.
Later in the day, the Chief Minister convened a meeting in Bengaluru, where he directed officials to provide security to those transport employees who are willing to join duty. He also instructed the police to deploy a constable on each bus. He also asked officials to initiate legal action against transport employees who indulge in violence and also directed them to initiate stringent measures against all those who are on strike.
According to a Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation official, 2,299 buses including 262 BMTC buses were operated in the state on Tuesday. According to the official, the employees allegedly damaged 54 buses. They added that 72 FIRs were registered in connection with the damage to 36 buses by 10 am on Tuesday. As many as 115 employees were involved in vandalism, of which 19 have been arrested, the official said.
The workers of state-owned corporations have been on an indefinite strike since April 7, seeking a hike in wages. They demanded payment in accordance with the Sixth Pay Commission, a promise which the state government had made, for them to call off a similar strike in December last year.