RTC buses resume services in Bidar

NEKRTC employees who were on strike for three days returned to work after talks with the government succeeded on Wednesday evening.

Long route buses, inter-district buses and city buses began plying by around 6.30 p.m.. All the scheduled services are open as of Wednesday evening. “We don’t expect any disturbance in the coming days,” NEKRTC sources said. Officials have not begun any disciplinary action against any officer or employee in Bidar division, they said.

“We thank the employees for joining duty,” A. H Nagesh, divisional controller, said.

Efforts by officials to start operations on Wednesday morning did not succeed as employees did not cooperate. Buses had not left the central bus stand till noon as the employees did not allow any of the buses to move out.

Commuters continued to suffer for the third day. City buses in Bidar city were off the roads and autorickshaws, taxi and vans operated services aggressively. A private bus company ran services between Bidar-Humnabad, Bidar-Kalaburgi and Bidar- Bhalki.

Employees also stopped buses coming in from Telangana and Maharashtra to enter the bus-stand on Wednesday. While Maharashtra buses came up till Deshmukh lake in Aurad and Ambe Sangavi Cross in Bhalki, Telangana buses stopped at Basaveshwara Circle that is situated at the opposite end of the city, five kilometres from the bus-stand.

Telangana State transport undertaking officers responded to the pleas by NEKRTC to run additional buses to Bidar, while Maharashtra authorities were less enthusiastic. In fact, they reduced a few routes passing through Karnataka fearing damage to buses.

Belagavi

Various educational institutions responded to the request of Deputy Commissioner N. Jayaram and allowed their buses to transport public free of cost to different localities in Belagavi city on Wednesday.

In the meanwhile, NWKRTC employees continued their strike for the third day. Though a few buses had started services in the city and boundary areas last evening, all the NWKRTC buses remained stranded in bus stations and depots.

Tumakuru

The KSRTC employees did not report for duty in the district. According to the police, on Tuesday evening, one city bus with full police protection was made to run between Tumakuru bus station and Kyatsandra.The bus was stopped after two trips. On Wednesday morning, even the driver who drove the city bus did not report for duty.

People used private buses and autorickshaws to go schools and colleges and their workplaces.