Trainee employees and drivers on probation were roped in by Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) to operate a few services with a police escort on Tuesday evening as the strike by union members of the State road transport corporations entered second day.
A total of 94 schedules were operated across the State, including 20 by the BMTC after 4 p.m. This, however, pales in comparison with the BMTC’s daily average of around 6,000 schedules.
“We sent a message to all our trainee drivers, and operated some schedules on Tuesday. We will take a call on services on Wednesday based on how many employees show up for duty,” said Ekroop Caur, managing director, BMTC.
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The number of trainees across all four State RTCs is 15,000 and the State government is hoping that they will show up for work on Wednesday. The KSRTC on Tuesday evening managed to operate 45 schedules, while the NEKRTC ran four schedules and NWKRTC ran 25 schedules.
“We have asked for police protection for operating buses and this has been assured to us. We will go ahead and operate services on Wednesday when these employees show up,” said a senior official with the KSRTC.