BMTC drivers are often blamed by thousands of motorists across the city for their rash and insensitive driving. What is often missed is the tremendous work-related stress the drivers undergo.
From a lack of toilets for women to constant bribes demanded for assigning routes or leaves, drivers for State-owned road transport corporations are a harassed lot and this frustration is affecting their performance on the road, BMTC drivers and conductors rue. “This apart, we have to deal with the ever burgeoning traffic on the city roads while also be on time on their routes,” said a driver on condition of anonymity.
On Tuesday, a driver-cum-conductor of depot six of Bangalore Central division of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) took his life after leaving a suicide note naming his superior. He took the step because the depot manager refused to give him work, he alleged in his suicide note.
Staff shortage
“There is a tremendous shortage of staff in all corporations. But more than that, a personal touch is missing in the way the management deals with the drivers. They are going for cost reduction at the cost of human lives,” said H.V. Anantha Subbarao, general secretary of the KSRTC Staff and Workers’ Federation, adding that usually when employees could not take the pressure, they would just stop showing up to work. “They will break down one day. This case is really tragic,” he said.
Drivers say they work under a massive amount of stress.
“We had to protest outside the office because they were not willing to relieve us of duty. After making several promises, we were finally let go on 14 November. Working in the city is tough for people who join from other regions. I served for over 10 years and finally left to join another RTC,” said Suresh, a former driver with BMTC.
“They send us memos and warnings for the smallest mistakes. For leaves, we had to pay bribes of Rs. 200 to Rs. 500 for the longest time. In today’s traffic, how will it be possible for us to maintain the same speeds we had five years back? There are several problems if you start asking,” said Ali, a driver with the BMTC for nine years.
This kind of stress in high-risk jobs is not advisable and will definitely have an impact, according to P.T. Sivakumar, Additional Professor, Psychiatry, at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS). He said that while there were mechanisms in place where counselling sessions were held for employees of BMTC and other RTCs, there was definitely scope for improvement.
“They would have to be on the lookout as these drivers are responsible for more than their lives. Training sessions, monitoring mechanisms and workshops must be held regularly,” he said.
Situation will improve: BMTC
Staff Reporter
Acknowledging that there were issues related to bribes being demanded, BMTC officials said that the situation would get better with the introduction of the Intelligent Transport Solution (ITS) system for the city.
“For many years, drivers were upset with being asked to give bribes. We have introduced the kiosk management system for the same reason. They have avenues to approach the management like the Labour Welfare office, as well as health coverage,” said Ekroop Caur, managing director, BMTC.
She added that the introduction of ITS would mean that the duty rota generation would be taken care of by the system which would help avoid intervention by middle-level officials. “We are on track for introducing ITS by December this year and are installing machines in every depot,” she said.
In the case of Vinayaka Murthy, who committed suicide on Monday, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) said that a departmental and police enquiry had been initiated. A statement said that Mr. Murthy had not gone to the depot after 13 November. His last working day was the previous day.
“We have workshops and counselling sessions for our drivers, besides health check-up camps. Our staff duty rota system allots routes on the basis of seniority and preference. He (Murthy) was working on a route of his choice since 27 March this year,” a senior official said.
There is a tremendous shortage of staff in all corporations. Personal touch is missing in the way the management deals with drivers. They are going for cost reduction at the cost of human lives
H.V. Anantha Subbarao,
General secretary of KSRTC Staff and Workers’ Federation
