Day 1: Transport strike hits normal life in Chennai; only 50% buses run
The indefinite strike by transport employees had a crippling effect on public life on day one itself, as the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) could only manage to operate half the number of buses on Thursday.
The transport Corporation that operates buses inside the Chennai Metropolitan Area, has been operating only 2,700 of its 3,300-strong fleet after the COVID-19 lockdown was imposed. “On Thursday, about 56 per cent buses were operated,” said an official.
With nearly half the services remaining off the road, commuters had to wait for a long time waiting for the buses. This also led to severe crowding on the few buses that were running today. Worsening the situation, the EMU service was affected between Tambaram and Chennai Beach stations from 5.30 am to 8.25 am after overhead equipment line snapped.
The strike was called by nine transport unions, including DMK-affiliated LPF, CITU, AITUC and INTUC, to protest the State government’s failure to conclude 14th wage revision talks, pending terminal benefits of the workers retired since 2020, and non-allocation of funds in the budget to compensate the losses incurred by the corporation which is a service sector.
The unions had refused to accept the interim relief of Rs 1,000 per month until the wage revision talks were completed, which the government announced on Wednesday.
The protesting unions alleged that the State government was trying to deploy drivers of private buses and mini buses. “This is a dangerous move. The government did the same thing during a previous strike, which resulted in several accidents,” said K Arumuga Nainar, the general secretary of CITU-affiliated Transport Employees Federation. He claimed that nearly 90 per cent of the employees, except those from the ruling party union, are taking part in the strike.
Nainar added that the protest would continue till the government accepted continuation of talks and meet their demands. The leaders of the protesting unions met in Chennai on Thursday evening and decided to stage demonstrations in front of all bus depots in the State on Friday.
Meanwhile, Metro Rail announced that it would increase peak hour service frequency on Friday, too.
Deploying private bus drivers is a dangerous move. The government did the same thing during a previous strike, which resulted in several accidents —K Arumuga Nainar, Transport Employees Federation