Thousands of commuters in the national Capital were left stranded on Monday because of the strike called by Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) employees protesting the killing of one of the DTC drivers in a road rage incident.
While only 704 buses out of DTC’s fleet of around 4,700 were able to leave the depots in the morning, even most of those were reportedly taken off the roads later in the day, which led to overcrowded Metros, overcharging by autorickshaws and long wait by passengers at bus shelters.
With practically no DTC bus plying on the roads of Delhi, hordes of passengers were seen stranded at various bus shelters of Delhi, many of whom resorted to the Metro. This led to overcrowding in various Metro stations across the city.
On an average 21 lakh commuters take Metro everyday; while on Monday the number jumped up to 22.92 lakh till 8 pm. Metro feeders were also running to capacity.
The autorickshaws also started overcharging and were unable to meet the demand as there were thousands of commuters waiting. According to the Delhi Government, action would be taken against the DTC employees if they did not call off the strike.
According to DTC officials, they have been trying their best to ensure normal functioning of the DTC buses. Deputy Chief General Manager RS Minhas said that in response to the strike by a section of the DTC Union, the Corporation has deputed all regional managers, depot managers and other officers to make arrangements to get maximum number of buses on the road.
“They have been on duty since 4 am and they will stay on duty to ensure maximum number of buses get on the road… With an outright effort of the officers and workers not involved in the strike, 704 buses were put on the road against all the odds. Our efforts will continue,” he said.
He added that the DTC was seeking all help from the Delhi Police and other authorities to put maximum buses on the road so that general public should not go thorough any inconvenience.
The Delhi Government had earlier announced a compensation of Rs5 lakh to the family of the deceased driver and a Government job to one of his family members. However, DTC drivers and conductors on strike have been demanding a compensation of Rs1 crore on the grounds that the same amount was earlier announced for the family of a security person who had died on duty.
A DTC official told The Pioneer on the condition of anonymity that while it was a welcome step that Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai had immediately announced a compensation of Rs5 lakh for the deceased’s family, there shouldn’t be any discrimination and politics over the deaths of Government employees.
“There should be an equal compensation for all Govern-ment employees in such cases. When the same Government gives a compensation of Rs1 crore to the family of one deceased employee, and Rs5 lakh to another, it just isn’t fair,” he added.
DTC employees have threatened that the strike would continue if their demands were not met. In such a case, the commuters might have to face a hard time on Tuesday as well if no action was taken by the Government.
An official said that the Government would have to find some way to solve the logjam. They could either agree to the demands of the protesters or they could enforce Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) so that the normal operation of DTC buses was resumed.
A 42-year-old DTC bus driver Ashok Kumar was on Sunday beaten to death in broad daylight allegedly by a youth after his bus grazed the latter’s bike in the Mundka area of West Delhi.