The workers in the 53 state-owned Road Transport Corporations (RTCs) in the country would go on a one-day strike in the first week of March 2015 to protest against the proposed Road Transport and Safety Bill 2014 and demand its withdrawal.
Senior Vice President of the National Federation of Indian Road Transport Workers H.V. Ananthasubba Rao told presspersons in Kalaburagi on Friday that the provisions made in the proposed bill were draconian and designed to suffocate the public sector road transport corporations and give new leeway to the private players in the public transport sector.
Mr. Rao, who is also the General Secretary of the AITUC, said that the all the trade unions were the members of the federation and the date of the one-day strike of the RTC employees would be decided in February 2015. The strike date will co-incide with the budget session of the Parliament when the proposed bill is likely to be tabled.
He said that the bill proposes to abolish the chapter six of the motor vehicle act removing the restrictions on issuing permits for operating the contract and stage carriages.
At present, the RTCs have the privilege of fixing the route and obtaining the permits and after the passing of the bill, the RTC would have to compete with the private operators, including taxi owners, to obtain permit for the routes in which they can operate their fleets.
Mr. Rao said that the RTCs were not afraid of competition, but without a level-playing field it would be difficult for the RTCs to continue the benefits extended to the underprivileged sections of the society, like continue the issuing of concessional bus passes to the aged persons, physically challenged and students. The private players would have no obligations to extend all these benefits or follow the reservation policies in the recruitment.
Mr. Rao said every year 5,000 persons in Karnataka get employment in the different RTCs. He said that the BJP-led NDA government at the center with its brute majority in the parliament wants to push through the bill despite the opposition from the states including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and others.
He said punishment proposed in the bill in case of fatal accident of 7 years imprisonment with three lakh fine and other punitive fines for violation of traffic signals, over-speeding and other violations would create havoc in the society and also give room for increased corrupt practices by the law implementing agencies.
Mr. Rao said that the government should amend suitably the proposed bill to retain the provisions of Chapter six of the Motor Vehicles Act, The taxation proposal by the national authority on the RTC should be removed and the powers of the state government on imposing taxes on the RTC should be retained. The penalty clauses in thedraft bill in case of fatal accidents and other violations should be removed and the proposed move to for national and state transport authorities or corporate bodies should be given up.
