Tamil Nadu commuters hit hard as buses go off roads

With as many as ten state transport corporation unions affiliated to various opposition parties resorting to indefinite strike to press for their demands, the commuters across Tamil Nadu were hit hard on Monday.

The unions linked to opposition DMK and the Left parties resorted to the strike amid some reports of shattering of the window panes of buses and assaulting of a driver in Tiruchirappalli allegedly by employees favouring the strikes. Amid the ongoing strike, the state government appealed to the employees to end the strike, while blaming the opposition-backed trade unions for "politicising the issue and misleading the employees." The striking unions, on the other hand, demanded that the state fulfil their "legitimate demands" and objected to the hiring of the drivers on ad hoc basis to cripple the strike.

They said they were ready to resolve various contentious issues through talks. The ten trade unions resorted to the strike after several rounds of their talks with the government on various issues including that for the upward wage revision to bring it on par with that of the employees of other PSUs, failed. Some buses had gone off the roads yesterday itself as a section of employees went on strike. Claiming that 75 per cent of the government buses were operated, Transport Minister M R Vijayabaskar blamed the DMK- affiliated LPF and trade unions CITU and AITUC linked to the Left parties for "having the strike as their only goal."

He said the talks did not fructify due to the rigid stance of the unions despite the government offering a staggered pay out plan.