The employees of Sahakara Sarige (Transport Cooperative Society) are in dire straits. Many of them have not been able to pay house rent, clear milk and newspaper bills for the last three months, as the company has not paid them salary since February this year.
The only transport, which runs on the cooperative model, has been facing financial loss.
The company, set up in 1991, had its services in parts of Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga and Udupi districts. The employees went on a strike, stopping the transport services on February 16. Hoping that the government would come to their rescue, they withdrew the strike after an assurance from the government. The company handed over its transport permits to the KSRTC to run its services on its routes so that the public would not be affected.
Even as the employees were contemplating intensifying their protest with the government not taking its assurance forward, the COVID-19 scare followed by the lockdown has hit them hard. They could not attract the attention of the authorities concerned.
Loss of ₹1.5 crore
The company wanted an immediate relief of ₹6.5 crores towards the reimbursement of the cost spent on students’ passes so that it could restart its services. E.S. Dharmappa, president of the society, told The Hindu: “We are not in a position to pay salaries, clear loans, pay the transport tax, or the PF of employees. The monthly instalment towards loan itself is around ₹20 lakh and transport tax is ₹14 lakh. Altogether, the company has suffered a loss to the tune of over ₹1.5 crore because of the lockdown.” The executive committee is meeting on April 16 to discuss the future course of action.
Katte Gowda, an employee, said talks on the sale of the company had been stalled due to the lockdown. “If the buses remain idle for a longer period, they will also lose value. We, employees, have run the company for the last 29 years and increased the number of buses from six to 75. I think we can only do so much. The government is not showing interest to safeguard the company,” he said.
