Bharat Bandh brings Bangalore to standstill

BANGALORE: The nationwide bandh initiated by over 10,000 members of various public sector undertakings (PSUs), trade unions and other unorganised sectors managed to bring the city to a grinding halt. Also, nearly 85,000 autos joined the strike, demanding a hike in the minimum fare.“It took me one-and-ahalf- hours to find an auto to office. Though every day I pay Rs 40 for my ride to office, due to the bandh, I had to shell out Rs 150.This is daylight robbery on common man,” said Deepthi, a citybased private firm employee. However, BMTC busses came to the rescue of many commuters who resorted to the city transport.BMTC had introduced extra buses to deal with the extra flow of passengers.“There were extra buses today and thanks to the BMTC, I managed to reach office on time. BMTC’s service was very helpful,” said Christine.Many rallies were taken out by trade unions and auto drivers near Town Hall and Freedom Park, leading to traffic chaos, as city traffic police had closed certain roads, where rallies took place.According to city police, the strike was carried out peacefully and no instances of violence were reported. Meanwhile, it looked like many foreign tourists were perplexed when auto drivers refused to ply on road. However, sources said a few auto drivers were seen plying customers from the City Railway Station.PSUs and other trade unions protested against the non-regularisation of employees who have been hired on contract basis.H Mahadevan from the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) had stated that nearly 60 per cent of PSU workers were hired on contract basis. The union also demanded an increase in the pension amount for employees.The auto unions went on strike after repeated demands for an increase in minimum fare from Rs 17 to Rs 24 and the fare per km to be increased to Rs 12 from the present Rs 9.Auto drivers claimed that the strike was inevitable as repeated appeals to government officials had yielded no results and a meeting with the Deputy Commissioner on Monday brought no desired results as well.