The indefinite strike called by opposition transport trade unions had less impact as around 70% of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation Limited (TNSTC) was operated in the district here on Thursday.
Nine transport trade unions had called for a State-wide strike over the government’s failure to conclude wage talks that was last held in 2019. They also claimed that a provident fund amount of the transport workers were used for running the transport corporations and wanted immediate settlement of retirement benefits. A senior TNSTC official said that there are 770 buses attached to 13 bus depots in the Erode region and 620 buses were operated on Thursday. “Around 70% to 72% buses were operated and steps would be taken to operate more buses”, the official said.
In the absence of frequency of buses in the morning and evening hours, commuters, particularly job-goers, faced difficulty as private buses carried maximum commuters. People who depend on town buses face more difficulty as they have to wait for long hours to reach their destination. Private buses were jam-packed and commuters movement in rural areas was the most affected due to less frequency of buses.
Salem Staff Reporter adds
Officials from Salem zone of TNSTC said that the strike has not affected in the region.
However, the trade unions claimed that about 70% did not report for work and about 40% services were affected.
But TNSTC officials said that services from various depots in the Salem division to other places were not affected. According to officials, there are about 1,900 buses under the division services from Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri were not affected. Officials said that services progressed as usual on the day.
Special Correspondent adds from Dharmapuri
In Dharmapuri, the strike cast a shadow on normalcy with over 40% of public transport pulled off the roads.
The Dharmapuri division with a total of 850 buses operated only 60% buses between the two districts. This entailed operation of less than optimal number of town and moffusil buses.
Nine transport trade unions announced an indefinite strike starting from Thursday over the impasse on the wage settlement talks. Earlier the nine unions, including the Labour Progressive Federation (LPF), Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), and All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), had declared that the strike will include eight State Transport Undertakings (STUs), and the Metropolitan Transport Corporation.
In Krishnagiri, with fewer buses, the commuting employee traffic to industrial belts of Hosur was hit due to a shortfall in the number of buses. In Krishnagiri, about 57% of buses were said to have operated to various parts of the district.
