After break, Bengaluru’s lifeline back

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The lifeline of Bengaluru is back. BMTC resumed full service on Saturday after transport unions withdrew their two-day-old strike late on Friday night. Though the number of buses on roads on Saturday morning was few, the services returned to normal by afternoon.

Office-goers and schoolchildren, who faced a torrid time for two days when the buses were off the road, can resume their schedule from Monday. They had to pay exorbitant sums to autorickshaw drivers, who charged double the normal amount to ferry passengers.

Employees of Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation and Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation withdrew their strike after the state government offered to merge 86 per cent of their dearness allowance (DA) with the basic pay. This will be applicable to employees of all the four state transport corporations in the state.

A spokesperson for the State Transport Corporations (BMTC and KSRTC) told Deccan Chronicle: “BMTC services have returned to normal and all the 6,400 buses have started operating in the city. There is no threat to anyone and the situation is under control as the strike has been called off. KSRTC services were less in the morning, but by afternoon all the scheduled buses were running.”

BMTC buses were running to capacity from Majestic bus station, Shivajingar bus station, Shanthinagar bus stations and all the Traffic Transit Management Centers.

Was strike a political ploy?

On the day the strike by employees of BMTC and KSRTC was called off, the government did a ‘post-mortem’ of the entire episode and, as it turns out, it was a senior politician who is known to be close union leaders, who instigated the employees to shun work, say highly placed source in the state home department.

The sources said the State government was caught off-guard as it strongly believed that the union culture was no longer alive. “Since 1996-97, no corporation had resorted to strike. We were surprised by the sudden rise of these elements”, the sources added. The forces that influenced the strike were traced during the many rounds of negotiations.

“The union leaders constantly called this leader of a regional party and discussed whether to accept the formula recommended by the transport department or not”, the source said.

Asked why the leader would have indulged in such tactics, the sources said that it was a political game. “They wanted to attack Deputy Chief Minister R. Ashok who is also holding the Home portfolio.

After the N-E crisis, came the garbage crisis and then the strike by the state-run transport corporations. This would create a negative image among the middle class towards the BJP government in general, and about Mr Ashok’s leadership in particular.

“By creating a string of problems, the political forces believed that voters could be swayed away from the ruling party. The other reason is to cut Mr Ashok to size in his constituency so that in the ensuing election, his position is more vulnerable”, the source explained. “The same group may try to cash in on the Cauvery crisis next if the State is forced to release more water”, the source added.