Balurghat, May 30: A tussle between two trade unions — Citu and Utuc — has led to the North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) pulling out of the bus stand here.

As a result, passengers have to travel a few hundred metres from the stand and use the one located at the godown of Food Corporation of India.

Balurghat Municipality had constructed a bus stand in the town for the use of both the NBSTC buses and the private operators. The corporation, however, withdrew its services twice in a short span of time after the stand’s inauguration.

On both occasions, the chairman of the RSP-run municipality, Deepankar Banerjee took the initiative to bring the NBSTC buses back to the designated bus stand.

The municipality, still under the control of the RSP, had full grip over the private bus operators through its trade union wing, Utuc. On the other hand, Citu controls the NBSTC bus employees’ union.

“During my tenure as the chairman of the municipality, I had brought back the NBSTC buses to the official stand by persuading the Citu leadership,” said Banerjee.

Citu leader and NBSTC employee Sisir Dey said the primary reason behind withdrawing the buses from the stand was that the private bus operators and their employees’ union were not being fair to the NBSTC. “They left very little space for parking NBSTC buses. Private operators were given priority over us. There were discrepancies in allotment of time to run the buses,” he said.

Banerjee, however, claimed that the Citu’s move to withdraw the corporation’s buses from the stand was unnecessary.

“I still do not find any valid reason why Citu forced NBSTC to withdraw its buses from the stand. It may have been down with the intention of embarrassing the civic authorities,” he said.

Dey, however, did not seem to support the idea of resuming NBSTC services from the municipal bus stand. “A terminus will soon be built exclusively for NBSTC buses at a cost of Rs 25 lakh. It will be built on the existing FCI premises,” he said .