Public transport services were hit across Yadgir and Raichur districts on the third day on Sunday as employees of NEKRTC continued their protest in support of several demands, particularly that their services be considered as government services.
According to official sources, buses remained in the bus stands and depots after drivers and conductors did not come to work.
The general public that depended on public transport faced hardship.
Utilising this opportunity, private vehicles demanded higher fare to ferry passengers to their destinations. Yadgir district, which has five depots, one each in Gurmitkal, Yadgir, Shahapur, Surpur and Hunsagi, has a total of 350 buses and these depots operate 300 routes every day.
Due to the ongoing protest across the district, the total loss for these three days has been put at ₹ 1 crore, according to Ramesh Patil, DTO of Yadgir district.
Legal consequences
“We are convincing the drivers, conductors and other employees on strike of the need to come to duty but the response from their side is very poor as some of them are saying that they will come only after the results of the talks being held between the government and the workers organisations,” Mr. Patil said and added that they may face legal consequences if they do not turn up for duty.
In Raichur
The situation is very similar in Raichur as there too no buses operated.
“As many as 645 buses are operated by seven depots, including Raichur, Manvi, Sindhanur, Deodurg and Maski, in the district. Of the 501 routes, no buses operated on any route. But, more than 30 night service buses will operate on Sunday night as some drivers and conductors had agreed to join duty,” Ishwar Doddamani, DTO of Raichur said.
There is no report on damage to any buses in the two districts.
