The normally busy Puducherry new bus stand presented a contrasting picture on Friday. Private buses lined up in parking slots reserved for Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC), which did not operate its services for the second day owing to a strike being observed by transport workers’ unions which are demanding higher wages.
The drastic reduction in bus services to destinations such as Chennai, Cuddalore, Villupuram and Salem left thousands of commuters high and dry.
Many passengers who had booked tickets to Chennai and other destinations in Tamil Nadu went by Puducherry Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) buses and private buses to Cuddalore and Villupuram districts.
This was for the second successive day that the TNSTC bus services remained affected in Cuddalore and Villupuram districts.
Services curtailed
A senior official in TNSTC, Cuddalore division, said that only 260 of the total 630 buses were operated.
“The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation operates nearly 1,500 buses via Puducherry to Nagapattinam, Karaikal, Kumbakonam, Cuddalore, Chennai, Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai, Kancheepuram, Tindivanam and Salem. In addition to this, State Express Transport Corporation operates buses to Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchi,” the official added.
\Only 10 buses were operated from the TNSTC Villupuram division depot, which is located in Uppalam in Puducherry.
In Villupuram, as many as 197 buses out of a total 515 buses in all the 11 bus depots in the division were operated.
Four members of the DMK affiliated Labour Progressive Federation (LPF) — Loganathan, Subramani, Selvaraj and Gunasekaran — were arrested in Gingee when they prevented a section of the TNSTC employees from operating the buses.
