Unions to scale up bus stir; strike to continue

Since the strike will continue on Monday, office-goers, school and college students are likely to be affected again. According to MTC officials, the Corporation operated around 50 to 60 per cent of buses in both the city and suburbs.

“City is gradually limping back to normalcy as many employees have returned to duty,” a senior official said. A total of 1,757 MTC and 45 private buses were operated in the city on Sunday.

MTC has so far recruited 230 temporary drivers and 113 conductors and the recruitment is still on.

Meanwhile, transport officials have drawn flak for accidents allegedly caused by temporary drivers. In one incident, an MTC bus is suspected to have killed a bike rider on Santhome High Road on Sunday morning, while in another incident, a stop-gap driver, who was taking a government bus in Chengalpattu, rammed into a car leaving two injured, while another state transport bus hit a car near Perungalathur, leaving one injured. When asked about accidents, the transport officials said they were not state buses.

Union leaders, on the other hand, remained firm in their stance and said they plan to intensify the strike. A Soundararajan, president of Tamil Nadu State Transport Employees Federation, affiliated to the CITU, said, “We will continue our strike and hold protests across the state on Monday seeking justice.” The members alleged that the government is trying to arrest workers by force.

“We will file an affidavit in the court on Monday and are in the hope that justice will be done to the workers,” said K Natarajan, treasurer of Labour Progressive Federation (LPF).