Bhubaneswar, Nov. 24: City bus service was completely paralysed today as the strike called by employees entered the second day today.

With no solution to the impasse in sight, operators Dream Team Sahara (DTS) decided to keep the buses off the road for security reasons.

“The police have failed to ensure safety of our buses, employees and the passengers. So we have decided not to operate the service,” said Sudhanshu Jena, chief executive officer of DTS.

The service had been partially affected yesterday with only 32 out of 97 buses plying on the roads.

The City Bus Karmachari Sangha, an association of DTS employees called the strike yesterday. They were demanding better service conditions and reinstatement of the employees dismissed in the past.

“We have been deprived of provident fund and other facilities. At the same time, some of our colleagues were terminated without any reason,” said Sibananda Mallick, general secretary of the Sangha. They also alleged that the management was refusing to reimburse the security deposits taken from drivers and conductors at the time of recruitment. The security deposit is Rs 10,000 for conductors and Rs 5,000 for drivers.

The DTS officials, however, claimed that the terminated employees had not filed their reimbursement claims.

“Those who were terminated have not returned the uniforms and electronic ticket machines. We had also lodged an FIR against some of them,” said Sudhanshu Mishra, chairman of DTS.

The DTS officials claimed that 80 per cent of the employees were against the strike. However, the agitating employees had a different view.

“Why are they not operating the buses if they have sufficient manpower. Most of the employees are with us, but fearing termination, they are not coming out into the open,” said Prabhukanta Sahoo, an agitating employee.

Previously, the Sangha, which was registered as a union on August 23, 2011, submitted an eight-point charter of demands to the labour department. The discussion between the union and DTS failed to break the ice.

“After the dialogue failed, we have constituted a committee to probe the matter. The final report will come by Saturday. If there are any violation, action will be initiated as per the law,” said Prasant Kumar Tripathy, district labour officer, Khurda.

However, officials of the Bhubaneswar Puri Transport Services Limited (BPTCL), the body that oversees the service, said the government could only act as a facilitator. “Several meetings were held today to find a solution and we are trying our best to sort out the problem,” said Guru Charan Ray, chief executive officer of BPTSL.

In another development, the autorickshaw operators have threatened to start a state-wide agitation protesting against the government’s decision to install speed governors. The state government had decided to limit the maximum speed of an autorickshaw to 30 km per hour by installing speed governors.