Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (SP/JD)
Udupi, Dec 14: Several Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses remained off the roads on Monday December 14 in the district because of the strike by its employees in pursuance of various demands including treating them at par with government employees. Since morning, only two buses moved from KSRTC bus stand in Udupi, one towards Karkala and another to Dharmasthala.
The officials here in are hoping to get the services started soon.
Many passengers are also at the bus stand. For the last few days due to the strike, passengers at the KSRTC bus stand were minimum.
Private bus operators are starting special service for passengers. Rates of these private special services are really high compare to other days.
On Sunday, in Udupi district the strike had its partial affect. Even though buses from Udupi and Kundapur depots left for other districts, the number of buses coming in were very less and as such the time scheduled of buses were hit.
In Mangaluru, only a handful of buses operated on Sunday and as such, the passengers were hard hit.
As the number of buses which came in from far off places like Bengaluru, Mysuru and Hubballi were very less, only a few buses were available to travel to other districts. But within Dakshina Kannada district, bus services were run in accordance with passenger demand. KSRTC officials said that several passengers cancelled their bookings because of uncertainty over the availability of buses. It is learnt that a few families which wanted to urgently travel to other districts booked private buses. Buses on Kasargod route from the city however moved about normally.
KSRTC has been mired in problems since about a year, right from corona-induced lockdown. Even after the lockdown was lifted, the daily collection of Mangaluru division had plunged to Rs 45 lac per day from the earlier Rs 70 lac. Now, during the strike period, the collection has trickled down to Rs 20 lac.
Dakshina Kannada district administration has called for a meeting of private bus owners, city bus owners and KSRTC officials on Monday December 14. Deputy commissioner Dr Rajendra K V, said that decisions about further steps if the strike continues, will be taken at the meeting. Canara Bus Owners Association president Dilraj Alva, said that their buses are moving about normally and they have not extended support to KSRTC employees strike.
In the meanwhile, housing minister Somanna, and Dakshina Kannada district in-charge minister Kota Srinivas Poojary, speaking at Dharmasthala, criticized Kodihalli Chandrashekhar for blocking the understanding which the workers organizations were ready to reach. They felt that under the current difficult times caused by coronavirus spread, it was not right to agitate.