Bengaluru comes to a halt as KSRTC strike enters 2nd day

The KSRTC strike enters into the second day as more than a 100,000 KSRTC and BMTC employees struck work across the state on Monday, bringing the IT capital to a grinding halt as schools and colleges remained shut and some 600,000 people, without public transport in the city.

At least 1.50 crore passengers have been affected by the bandh across the state with passengers arriving from outside the state at the city's bus stations facing the brunt. Virtually every single KSRTC and BMTC bus station was a sea of people hauling their own luggage, negotiating with autorickshaw and tax-drivers who made a killing, with cab and auto drivers demanding a minimum fare of `100 even for the distance of a



kilometer.

Hospitals and railway stations saw desperate patients and new arrivals unable to get around the auto drivers' demands. Most schools and colleges will remain shut on Tuesday and possibly, stay closed till Thursday.

State transport minister Ramalinga Reddy and senior officials of both KSRTC and BMTC held several rounds of talks with the labour unions. But sources said that the employees remained adamant on the 35% pay hike demand in public as against the government's offer of a 10% hike, in private, some union leaders told that they maybe willing to reduce it to 30%. As a set of 41 demands were made, government sources said they were trying to break the strike or impose ESMA.