Less than a week ago, an employee of the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) ended his life by hanging himself in his quarters. In September, a driver employed by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) attempted suicide by consuming poison at home. Earlier this year, hundreds of BMTC employees, including women, went on a flash strike at Majestic and Banashankari depots.
In all these cases, the reasons cited by employees were either harassment or poor working conditions.
It is a known fact that the employees working in various corporations under the Transport Department are overburdened and stressed out. According to Subbarao Anantha, general secretary of the Karnataka State Road Transportation Corporation (KSRTC) Staff and Workers’ Federation, both BMTC and KSRTC are short-staffed. “Earlier eight people would be operating a schedule. Now, we have 4.5 people operating a schedule. This means, employees have to do overtime,” he explained.
Long work hours
Employees also complain of not getting their weekly off and being forced to work on government holidays. “Due to staff shortage, many find it difficult to get leave. This takes a toll not only on their physical health but mental health as well,” said Mr. Anantha, adding that in the last few years there have been 30 suicide attempts by employees working in the North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC), North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC), KSRTC and BMTC.
BMTC employees have gone on strike numerous times this year accusing the management and their superiors of harassment. “There are a lot of issues at the depot level, but little is done to attend to them. This forces employees to go on a strike,” he added.
While KSRTC and BMTC workers have been able to voice their problems, many issues within the BMRCL do not come out, said Suryanarayana Murthy, vice-president, BMRCL Employees’ Union. “This is because the union is not recognised by the management. BMRCL does not follow the standing orders under the Industrial Dispute Act. Instead, it has its own CDA (Contact, Discipline and Appeal) rules, which hardly benefit employees,” he said, adding that BMRCL does not have fixed working hours for employees.
“There is no provision for lunch break. If a staff steps out to eat, the senior will immediately issue a notice. Some employees are forced to do continuous night shifts for three months and employees have to stand for 8 hours a day. Since bio-metric punching is available only in 14 of the 34 stations, employees have to go to the station which has the machine and then to the place of duty,” Mr. Murthy added. In BMRCL, the problem is not staff strength, but the lack of proper management.
Women employees
BMTC, KSRTC and BMRCL have a good number of women employees, who face various problems. For instance, women employees in BMTC complain of lack of facilities for them at the workplace, including proper rest-rooms. “Staff shortage mean these women have to work on holidays also and they don’t get time with their families,” said Mr. Anantha.
“It is mandatory to have a crèche facility if the women staff is 10% of the total strength. There are around 300 women workers in the BMRCL, yet no crèche facility has been provided,” said Mr. Murthy, adding that a lot of women refrain from complaining for fear of being targeted.
What the boss says
“BMTC is an employee-friendly corporation. We are conducting redressal meetings every month in various divisions. It is mandatory for managers and Divisional Controller to record the meeting and bring all grievances to the notice of higher officials. There is an open channel of communication between the employees and the BMTC,” says M. Nagaraj Yadav, Chairman, BMTC.
“We have various committees to look into grievances of employees. Also, the provision for lunch break is there for workers of BMRCL,” says Pradeep Singh Kharola, MD, BMRCL.
Unhappy commuters
It is not just employees who have problems with these transport corporations; commuters, too, are dissatisfied. Citizens have been requesting the BMTC to double its fleet size from the existing 6,500 buses.
The Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike (BBPV) has been at the forefront of the campaign called Bus Bhagya Beku. “The campaign lost traction after BMTC MD Ekroop Kaur was transferred. But, we are continuing our engagement with commuters, officials and activists to ensure the government looks at public road transportation as an essential service. BMTC has been neglected by the government,” says Lekha Adavi, member of BBPV.
The demands include increasing the number of buses, cutting fares by half, improving the condition of the existing buses and ensuring service is provided to places that really need it.
The BMRCL has drawn a lot of flak from commuters for not taking citizens into confidence before deciding on the alignment of metro stations. The positioning of Cantonment station especially has led to a lot of protests.
“We continue to push for more bus services as buses are the only saviour for Bengaluru, with their vast reach and ability to feed into metro and suburban train services. What we want from these corporations is transparency and public consultation. BMTC should rationalise routes by holding adalats every month on a fixed day and time in different locations. These adalats must be advertised in advance. BMRCL should hold public consultation for all new station locations and integrate their services with bus and train services. They should understand the difficulties faced by people due to poor integration,” said Srinivas Alavilli, member of Citizens for Bengaluru.
