Opposition parties have urged the State government to immediately redress the grievances of transport workers and bring an end to their agitation, which has put the public to hardship.
In a statement, DMK working president M.K. Stalin urged Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami to hold direct talks with the transport unions and resolve the issues they had raised.
He said this was necessary since talks with the Transport Minister had hit a roadblock.
Mismanagement alleged
Mr. Stalin also slammed the government’s decision to operate buses through AIADMK trade unions and warned that the move would have serious implications.
PMK founder S. Ramadoss and CPI(M) State secretary G. Ramakrishnan blamed the government for the current state of affairs.
In a statement, Mr. Ramadoss termed as unacceptable the government’s stand that the demand on wages cannot be met as the transport corporations were reeling under heavy losses, and alleged that the losses were a result of mismanagement and scams.
Stating that the public transport should be operated with a service motive and not a profit motive, Mr. Ramakrishnan accused the government of ignoring the major trade unions and urged it to resolve their issues immediately through talks.
MDMK chief Vaiko said the government should accede to the transport workers’ demands and bring the strike to an end. Tamil Maanila Congress president G.K. Vasan pointed out that the strike had come ahead of a busy festive season, adding that the government should not be the reason for non-operation of buses and causing hardship to the public.
‘Unfortunate move’
All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi (AISMK) founder R. Sarathkumar termed the strike ahead of the Pongal festival unfortunate, adding that the losses being faced by the transport corporations boiled down to mismanagement, non-maintenance of buses and the increase in the price of diesel.
Manithaneya Makkal Katchi leader M.H. Jawahirullah said the government’s plan to use temporary drivers was unacceptable, and warned against the move as previous attempts had resulted in accidents.
