The Joint Committee of Trade Unions of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporations has given a notice to managements of the transport corporations that it will observe a strike on February 20 against steep hike in the price of diesel being purchased in bulk.
A release from the committee said that despite the transport corporations and the Railways having been discharging yeomen service to society by providing affordable transport facility, the Union government has increased the diesel price without any justification. The unscientific increase in price is bound to push the transport corporations to bankruptcy, the committee said.
On the contrary, the price of diesel sold in retail to individuals has not been increased substantially. As a result, the transport corporations have lost a level-playing field with private bus operators. Various trade unions across the country have been fighting this unjustified and discriminative move of the Union government, the committee said.
The committee has decided to observe the strike from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. It noted that Petroleum Minister M. Veerappa Moily failed to hold discussions with trade union leaders when they approached him seeking reduction of price of diesel bought in bulk.
Condemning Mr. Moily’s attitude, the committee demanded not only reduction of diesel prices but also supply of diesel at subsidised rates to the transport corporations.
The notice was signed by B. Jayadevaraje Urs, H.V. Ananthasubba Rao, M. Mallikarjunamurthy, A.V. Borashetty and K.R. Vijayakumar, all convenors of the committee.
