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City bus drivers and auxiliary employees protest at Baridih depot on Tuesday. Picture by Bhola Prasad
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City residents have missed the bus — the umpteenth time.
The touted, but less trusted, public transport went off Jamshedpur’s roads once again on Tuesday, with drivers, conductors and security staff sponsoring the 21st strike in two years, this time demanding salaries due since April.
The agitated employees, around 70 in number, assembled at the Baridih bus depot in the morning and shouted slogans to press for their demand. However, the Jharkhand Tourism Development Corporation (JTDC), which runs the service in the city, agreed to pay only April and May dues, intensifying the protest.
“We will continue with the strike till we get our full five months’ pay. The local JTDC authorities have promised to disburse only two months’ salaries today (Tuesday),” said Ajit Singh, a patron of the City Bus Karmachari Sangh.
JTDC manager Rakesh Kumar said they were helpless because they had received funds for the said two-month period from Ranchi. “But, we have written to our headquarters for releasing money so that we can disburse payment for the remaining three months,” he claimed.
City bus employees, however, remained adamant. “Even if we get two months’ salaries today, we will continue the strike. Holding back our payment has become a regular practice,” said Ganga Prasad, the president of the Sangh. He added that all employees would meet at the bus depot in the evening to chalk out their future strategy.
While the face-off between JTDC and city bus employees continued, commuters had a tough time. “I normally hop on to a city bus from Mango to go to my office in Sakchi. But today, I had no option but to take an auto-rickshaw, which is expensive,” said Sheila Moitra, who works with a private insurance company.
Many like Moitra were forced to fall back on costlier modes of transport because the buses did not ply on any of the seven notified routes. Normally, 20 buses ferry 10,000-odd passengers daily on these routes.
The city bus service was launched in the steel city in September 2010 as a part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Ever since, it has been plagued with problems. In the past 24 months, bus drivers and auxiliary staff have ceased work as many as 21 times over non-payment of dues. The last strike was called in June this year over the same issue.
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