KSRTC Staff & Workers Federation writes to CM

Mysore/Mysuru: KSRTC Staff & Workers Federation, Bengaluru, has written a letter to Chief Minister Siddharamaiah, giving its feedback over the Shakti scheme providing free travel facility for women in KSRTC buses.

According to the letter by General Secretary of KSRTC Federation D. A. Vijay Bhaskar, “The workers of all the Road Transport Corporations (RTCs) have been making efforts for the success of the scheme ever since its launch on June 11, where women have been joyously travelling in the State-owned buses.”

“To put our experiences in a nutshell, we like to inform that the number of buses should be increased as per demand with the gradual rise in the number of women passengers. Though private buses are operated in more numbers in some of the districts, the women passengers are opting to travel in our buses, in the event of which, the number of such passengers is dwindling in private buses. The drivers, conductors and other workers are in the fear of losing their job. The owners of private buses who invested in the service are also staring at uncertainty,” added Vijay Bhaskar.

According to One-Man Committee Report of retired IAS Officer M. R. Srinivasa Murthy, it had been recommended for introducing bus services to over 2,500 villages that were without any bus connectivity. “During your (Siddharamaiah) previous term as Chief Minister, you had brought Comprehensive Area Scheme to provide adequate transportation facility to the people of the State. With this, only the KSRTC enjoyed the right to provide any type of transportation connectivity. However, the Government that came into existence later hastily made changes into the ordinance and introduced another ordinance on Mar. 29, 2023, throwing the real purpose into wind.  The profit making 41 routes of KSRTC were handed over to private, besides permitting them to operate 20 km inside urban areas,” the letter stated.

 The earlier ordinance should be brought and measures should be taken to safeguard the interests of private transport sector workers too. The Federation has also reminded Siddharamaiah of The Karnataka Contract Carriages (Acquisition) Act 1976 brought by his predecessor D. Devaraj Urs, that helped KSRTC to grow in a big way providing better services to the people.