Karnataka road transport staff withdraw strike, buses resume
Bengaluru, Dec 14: Karnataka state-owned transport corporation employees, who were on strike since December 10, called it off on Monday evening following talks with the state government.
Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha president Kodihalli Chandrashekhar, who was leading the transport agitation, announced the end to the strike at the Freedom Park here.
"We are calling off our strike as the state government has accepted nine out of 10 demands," Chandrashekhar announced.
Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi, who holds the transport portfolio, expressed happiness over the development.
"I am happy that the strike has been called off.
I also greet the people of Karnataka who stood by the government," Savadi told reporters here.
The employees' key demands were compensation equivalent to the corona warriors who died in the line of duty due to COVID-19 and recognising them as government employees and salaries paid accordingly.
With no end to the strike in sight, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Monday called a meeting with his cabinet colleagues including Savadi, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Revenue Minister R Ashoka and Social Welfare Minister B Sriramulu.
Later, Savadi met with the representatives of the agitating employees.
In the minutes of the meeting released to the media, Savadi said the demand for compensation on par with corona warriors would be given.
He did not spell out anything on the second demand of the agitators to recognise them as government employees.
He , however, said the government will consider one of the demands on implementing the sixth pay commission report after taking into account its financial condition.
Following the assurance to consider paying salaries as recommended in the sixth pay commission, the protesting employees agreed to call off the strike.
"Our demand to be recognised as government employees will remain.
We are not compromising on that," Chandrashekhar told the agitating employees, many of whom had camped at the Freedom Park with their families.
Soon after the strike was called off, city bus, inter-city and inter-state bus services resumed.
According to the KSRTC and the BMTC officials, the bus services will resume fullscale from Tuesday.
Nearly 1.25 lakh employees of the various state owned transport corporations and the 33,000 Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation employees had gone one strike putting the daily commuters of Bengaluru, inter-city and inter-state passengers to hardship.
To bail out daily commuters, the government had assigned private transporters to run city buses and inter- state buses but that did not help the commuters much as they were overcharging, a few passengers told PTI.
A KSRTC Union leader K Prakash, who was part of the agitation, claimed the Sixth Pay Commission report was not among the demands.
"We had only two demands -- compensation on par with corona warriors and recognising us as government employees.
We don't know how this Sixth pay commission popped up. We also don't know how the nine demands surfaced," Prakash added.
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Commercial LPG hike: Delhi restaurant owners warn of higher menu rates, job losses
New Delhi (PTI) A day after a 50 per cent rise in commercial LPG cylinder prices, Delhi's food business, with restaurant owners and street vendors have warned of higher menu rates, financial strain and potential job losses if the trend persists.
The price of commercial LPG was hiked by a steep Rs 993 per 19 kg cylinder, marking the third consecutive monthly hike amid rising global energy prices linked to the West Asia conflict.
For many in the restaurant industry, the spike has been both sudden and steep.
Manpreet Singh, honorary treasurer of the National Restaurant Association of India, said that eateries are already grappling with supply challenges alongside rising costs.
"There is a huge difficulty in getting these cylinders, and black marketing is also increasing in many unregulated sectors," he said, noting that prices that were once around Rs 1,600, often dropping to nearly Rs 1,300 with discounts, have now surged to between Rs 3,000 and Rs 4,000 per cylinder.
He further added that a medium-sized restaurant typically uses between two and five cylinders daily, making the increase particularly burdensome as costs mount.
Singh further said that as costs mount, smaller establishments could struggle to stay afloat. Instead, the association has advised restaurants to shift towards piped natural gas connections through Indraprastha Gas Limited as a more sustainable alternative.
"If this problem continues, PNG is the only long-term solution," he said, adding that temporary measures like coal offer limited relief due to slower cooking times and that it can largely be used only for tandoors.
Echoing similar concerns, Kabir Suri, owner of Mamagoto in Khan Market, said the impact is already visible across the industry. "There has been almost a threefold increase in cylinder prices for restaurants," he said, adding that rising fuel and logistics costs are compounding the pressure.
"If this continues, it will become a significant financial burden, and food prices will inevitably go up. Adding to this burden, higher fuel costs are also affecting logistics and transportation, making a price rise unavoidable. The extent of the impact will vary between small eateries and large chains depending on their scale," he said.
Global oil prices have surged nearly 50 per cent following disruptions in energy supply chains due to the West Asia conflict, pushing up commercial fuel costs and transport expenses.
A West Delhi-based restaurateur said they are trying to manage rising costs while keeping their staff secure. "We are trying to ensure that our staff, from kitchen workers to waiters, are paid on time and do not face immediate hardship," the owner said.
"We are a small restaurant with seating for about 20 to 25 people at a time. But if this continues for long, we will have to take difficult calls. There is only so much we can absorb, and menu prices will have to go up. We hope this does not continue for a longer period," he said.
Another restaurant owner in North Delhi, who did not wish to be named, said operational adjustments alone may not be enough. "We are checking our costs very carefully and trying to cut wherever possible, but if fuel prices remain high, it will eventually affect how we run the business," the owner said.
"Coal helps in tandoor cooking, but it takes more time," the owner further added.
The strain is even more acute among street vendors, many of whom operate on thin margins. A vendor in Saket said he had recently expanded his business, moving from a mobile cart to a rented outlet.
"I have a family to feed and more responsibilities now. Earlier, I managed with a moving cart, but after renting the place, expenses increased," he said. "Whenever cylinders were unavailable, I had to buy them at higher rates in the black market. Now even regular supply is too expensive, and if this continues, we may have to shut down," he added.
In Laxmi Nagar, another vendor said they are struggling to keep the business running. "Sometimes we even used domestic cylinders from home when supply ran out because we had to keep the stall running," he said, adding that rising costs leave little choice but to increase prices or bear losses.
On April 1, the rates of commercial LPG cylinders were hiked by Rs 195.50 per cylinder, followed by a Rs 114.5 hike on March 1, taking the total increase over the past three months to Rs 1,303. With the latest revision, a 19 kg commercial LPG cylinder now costs Rs 3,371.5 in Delhi, up from Rs 2,078.5 earlier.
The prices of domestic LPG cylinders used for household cooking have remained unchanged. They were last increased by Rs 60 per 14.2 kg cylinder on March 7 and currently cost Rs 913 in Delhi.
