Bus services hit as transport workers begin strike across Karnataka, passengers stranded
Bengaluru (PTI): Employees of Karnataka's state-owned transport corporations began an indefinite strike on Tuesday morning, severely affecting public bus services across the state and leaving passengers in the lurch.
The unions went ahead with the strike despite a court stay against the agitation, underway pressing demands including wage revision.
Buses remained parked at depots and only a few were seen running, as some staff chose not to participate in the strike.
Some buses in rural areas operated as a few drivers opted to work for the convenience of students to ferry them to their schools, said sources in the transport department.
The transport corporations are learned to have roped in trainee bus drivers to manage the situation.
Bus stands in major cities like Bengaluru, Chikkamagaluru, Raichur, Chitradurga, Hubballi, Dharwad, Belagavi, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Tumakuru, Hassan, Madikeri, Shivamogga, and Kalaburagi saw heavy passenger rush, with thousands stranded and struggling to find alternate ways to reach their destinations.
Passengers faced difficulty due to the running of a limited number of buses, mostly those that went on the roads before the strike officially began.
Private bus operators and cab aggregators allegedly made a killing as a result of the strike as passengers turned to them to reach their destinations.
Some passengers complained that autorickshaw drivers were charging exorbitant fares in Bengaluru.
The protest comes after talks between the workers' unions and the Karnataka government failed.
The workers are demanding payment of 38 months' salary arrears and a wage revision effective January 1, 2024.
Despite the Karnataka High Court issuing an interim stay on the strike, the unions have decided to go ahead with their protest.
The HC had on Monday said that if the entire public transport operation was stalled, people are likely to be put to hardship, and therefore granted the interim stay till Tuesday, awaiting the outcome of negotiations with the government.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had appealed to the unions to call off the strike.
However, union leaders said they were unhappy with the government's offer to clear only two years of arrears and having got no clear assurance on salary revision.
KSRTC Staff and Workers' Federation president H V Anantha Subbarao said, "We are not satisfied. The strike will begin as planned. We want full 38 months' arrears."
During a court hearing, the bench expressed concern over the long-pending wage issues and asked the government about the delay.
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SC refuses to entertain PIL questioning procedures to record caste of citizens in 2027 census
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New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a PIL questioning the procedure to be adopted to record, classify and verify the caste data of citizens in the 2027 general census.
The top court, however, asked the Centre and the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India to consider the suggestions made by PIL petitioner Aakash Goel, an academician, on the issue.
Goel, represented by senior advocate Mukta Gupta, said a transparent questionnaire, to be used for recording, classifying and verifying the caste details of the citizens, has to be placed in public domain.
The senior advocate alleged that the Directorate of Census Operations has not disclosed the criteria for recording the caste identity of citizens "notwithstanding the acknowledgement that caste enumeration has extended beyond the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes this time”.
The bench told the PIL petitioner there is “no pre-determined data” to identify the caste data.
“The census exercise is regulated under the Census Act, 1958 and the 1990 Rules framed thereunder which empowers the respondent authorities to determine the particular and manners of census operations,” the bench noted.
“We have no reason to doubt that respondent authority with aid and assistance of domain experts must have evolved a robust mechanism in order to rule out any mistake as apprehended by the petitioner and several like-minded persons. We find the petitioner has raised some relevant issues through representation to the Registrar General of Census operations …as well,” the CJI said.
The bench said authorities may consider the suggestions raised in the legal notice and the petition and disposed of the PIL.
The 2027 Census, officially the 16th national census, will be the first to include comprehensive caste enumeration since 1931 and the country's first fully digital census.
