More than 50% of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation buses were operated in Madurai district on Sunday, though the indefinite strike by major trade unions such as CITU and Labour Progressive Front continued for the fourth day.
In the rural areas around 50% of the buses were operated while in urban areas it was around 60%. The buses were operated with outsourced employees, CITU (Transport-Madurai) vice-president G. Rajendran said. He stated that attempts by officials to force checking inspectors to work as conductors failed.
“Not many buses were plying on the road,” he added. Many mini buses that operated between Goripalayam and Oomachikulam were seen plying upto Chathirapatti to fill the void left by the TNSTC. Though no untoward incident was reported on Sunday, the police said that seven buses were stoned in the district on Saturday.
One bus each near Flower Market, at Uthangudi and two buses on Ring Road were stoned by unidentified persons in which the windscreens were damaged. In rural areas, windscreens of three buses were smashed in stone pelting incidents reported on Ramanathpuaram highway. Silaiman police are investigating.
