With the strike by employees of Road Transport Corporations entering the third day on Friday, despite some of their colleagues losing jobs, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has again appealed to them to report back to duty and cooperate with the government.
Addressing mediapersons, the Chief Minister said that considering the financial position of the government, pay revision on par with the recommendations made by the 6th Pay Commission is not possible
“I am requesting road transport employees with folded hands to report back to duty and stop being stubborn. In the last one year, when RTCs struggled to pay salaries of the staff, the government has paid ₹2,300 crore from its exchequer. The employees should understand the financial position of the government and cooperate.”
The Chief Minister said that 85 per cent of revenue generated goes towards salaries of government employees, pensions and other non-planned expenses and only 15 per cent is available for projects. He said that Opposition party leader Siddaramaiah spoke about this on the floor of the legislature.
“The State government has already fulfilled eight out of nine demands made by the RTC employees. If there are any deficiencies in fulfilment of eight demands, the government is ready to address them. RTCs are meant for public service, the general public is facing a lot of inconvenience due to the strike. I am again requesting them to call off strike and run buses,” he said.
On Friday, till 12 p.m, the KSRTC operated 214 buses, the BMTC managed to run 75 buses and NEKRTC and NEKRTC operated 172 and 75 buses respectively.
