Transport Department maintains ‘near regular’ bus services despite indefinite strike called by unions

A senior official of the Transport Department said a total of 16,983 buses were operated as against the 17,713 operated by the eight STCs.

On the first day of the indefinite transport strike called by several trade unions on Tuesday, there were near regular services in operation, the Transport Department claimed. The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) operated near equal services it would operate on a regular day. Similarly the remaining seven State Transport Corporations (STCs) also operated close to normal bus operations. 

A senior official of the Transport Department said a total of 16,983 buses were operated as against the 17,713 buses operated by the eight STCs. The MTC operated 3,072 buses against the 3,233 buses, State Express Transport Corporation (SETC), 453 buses (453), Villupuram 2,686 (2,900), Salem 1,693 (1,709), Coimbatore 2,339 (2,490), Kumbakonam 2,960 (3,096), Madurai 2,1324 (2,166) and Tirunelveli 1,646 (1,661). 

The senior transport official said the MTC Managing Director Alby John inspected all the 34 depots throughout the day to make sure regular bus service was maintained on Tuesday. Transport Minister S.S. Sivasankar also inspected the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus in Koyambedu and the newly-inaugurated Kalaignar Centenary Bus terminus in Kilambakkam to check the status of the buses being operated and the facilities being provided to the commuters, he added. 

S. Kumari, a regular commuter, said she faced difficulty in reaching her office in Thiruvanmiyur as bus services on the Rajiv Gandhi Salai were operated in a delayed manner and the vehicular traffic was very high compared to the regular days. 

While the MTC maintained regular operation, the occupancy in several buses in some routes in Chennai was low during the morning rush hours as office goers preferred to use the private vehicles. The suburban trains were also running jam packed in the morning, mainly the train route from Chennai Beach to Tambaram-Chengalpattu section and the Moore Market complex railway station to Avadi and Tiruvallur. 

Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) leader A. Soundararajan said more than 60% of the bus crew in Chennai kept off from duty with the trade unions planning to intensify the protest in the coming days in the city. A few protests were carried out by the transport trade unions in depots at K.K. Nagar and Vadapalani. 

The demands of the more than 25 transport unions which are participating in this protest include the filling of vacancies, allocation in the State budget to offset the deficit, increasing the dearness allowance of retired employees, which has been pending for the last 100 months, scrapping of a new pension scheme, immediate commencement of the 15th wage revision talks, and granting compassionate ground appointments.