Karnataka: Union leader Kodihalli Chandrashekar detained as RTC employees' strike enters 4th day
Belagavi(KTK): Kodihalli Chandrashekar, who is leading the ongoing Karnataka state owned transport employees' strike, has been detained in this district headquarters town, sources said.
"Police took Chandrashekar into their custody and are taking him to Bengaluru," sources said.
According to sources in the Belagavi administration, Chandrashekar wanted to meet the Deputy Commissioner of the district, which was not granted. Angry over it, the leader decided to stage a demonstration there.
The district authorities then detained him and directed that he be sent out of the district.
Meanwhile, fissures seem to have opened among sections of the state owned transport corporation bus employees' federation as the strike over their salary related issues entered the fourth day on Saturday.
The Karnataka government on Friday banned with immediate effect the indefinite strike by employees of the road transport corporations, which affected bus services across the State.
Citing inconvenience caused to the public and that the strike was against provisions of the industrial disputes act, the Labour department issued the ban orders.
The dispute has been referred to the industrial tribunal, Bengaluru for adjudication, it added.
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa appealed to the employees to resume work, even as he made it clear that it was not possible to meet their demand for wages as per the 6th Pay Commission.
With the government reiterating its stand on wages as per the 6th Pay Commission, RTC employees decided to continue with the strike on Saturday as well.
Kodihalli Chandrashekhar, honorary president of the Karnataka State Road Transport Employees League, said the strike is on and will continue for the fourth day on Saturday.
On Saturday a few union leaders expressed their displeasure over the way Chandrashekhar handled the issue.
The Karnataka Transport Employees Federation has chosen Chandrashekhar as their honorary president to lead their agitation and negotiate with the government for the implementation of the sixth pay commission.
"The strike is continuing, but we are caught in a problem due to the impractical demand. Now we cannot move forward, return backward," the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation union leader K Prakash said.
Chandrashekhar should not have put forth just one demand, which will fizzle out because it cannot be fulfilled in view of the present situation, another union leader said requesting anonymity.
Chandrashekhar was not available for his comment.
There are four state owned transport corporations and all of them have gone on strike demanding salaries on par with the state government employees.
The stalemate has caused inconvenience to the commuters, many of whom alleged that private transporters overcharged for the trips.
The government has sacked trainee and probationary employees of various corporations, including 216 Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation in the past two days for taking part in the agitation.
The government also managed to run 652 buses till 10 am.
Yet, it was way too short of the demand. The Railways too are operating nine special trains on Saturday.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
