Tamil Nadu Transport Minister M.R. Vijayabhaskar has called upon striking transport workers to return to work and warned them of legal action if they don’t do so.
Mr. Vijayabhaskar alleged that some trade unions were misleading workers.
The Minister’s remark come after The Madras High Court directed members of all striking unions of the transport corporations to return to work forthwith or end up facing contempt proceedings as well as the risk of being terminated from service.
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The first Division Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose passed the order on a public interest litigation petition filed by freelance journalist Varaaki.
The judges granted an interim injunction restraining the transport workers from continuing the strike after agreeing with Advocate General Vijay Narayan that the workers could not hold the general public to ransom.
The court observed that the aggrieved workers did have the right to protest, but it could not accept the course taken by the employees of going on strike without prior notice.
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It ordered notice to the striking unions and adjourned further hearing of the case to Monday.
The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation curtailed bus services in many districts from Thursday night as crew members belonging to employees unions that did not agree to the wage accord offered by the government went on strike.
The strike, following failure of talks - on wage revision and clearance of pending dues - with Transport Minister M.R. Vijayabhaskar, affected bus services in Chennai, Madurai district, Coimbatore and Tiruchirapalli to a large extent since 6 p.m. on Thursday.
Here are the updates:
Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami chaired a meeting with senior Ministers and officials to discuss the situation following the strike by transport workers, reports Dennis S. Jesudasan .
Chennai
With buses off the roads, many students went walking to schools and colleges this morning in Chennai, reports Sangeetha Kandavel .
Only 25% buses were operated from Tambaram, Chromepet, Alandur and Chengalpet depots. Only destinations on main routes were covered by these buses. Places like Manimangalam, Sethupet, Malaipattu, Kuruvanmedu, Amarampedu, Nandambakkam were left at the mercy of share autos, reports T. Madhavan .
Kancheepuram
Skeletal services on prime routes from Kancheepuram were ensured on Friday morning, much to the relief of office-goers. Read more
Coimbatore
Only 22% of TNSTC buses moved out of depots in Coimbatore district at 11 a.m. The situation became became worse in the afternoon, as crew members affiliated to the ruling ATS closed trips, sources said. Crowd was thin at the Gandhipuram moffusil bus stand, reports R. Arivanantham .
Buses stopped operating from Singanallur, Ukkadam, Mettupalayam, Gandhipuram moffusil and town bus stands.
Erode
With employees going on strike, buses were parked at the depot in Erode.
Ramanathapuram
Many commuters were stuck without a commute in Ramanathapuram. Only 10% of about 350 buses operated in Ramanathapuram district. About 23% buses operated in Sivaganga district, reports D.J. Walter Scott .
Salem
Private buses save the day for some passengers at Salem.
Tiruchirapalli
Sources in the striking unions in Tiruchi claimed that some bus crew had brought vehicles to the depots in Tiruchi region. TNSTC officials conceded that a section of buses were returning to the depots and there was no instance of passengers being off-loaded midway.
Buses headed to the depots at Pudukottai and Gandarvakottai after completing their trip without proceeding further. Passengers were caught unawares and stranded at the Pudukottai bus stand as the began to head to the depots.
R. Rajaram reports that commuters in Tiruchi and other districts had to depend largely on private buses as movement of government buses was sparse. The strike caused severe hardship to regular commuters, especially those in the rural areas.
As a precautionary measure, police personnel were deployed at bus depots across the central region where a fleet of buses were parked.
The TNSTC has put up notice boards inviting private drivers to enroll themselves as temporary hands to operate buses.
Tirupur
From two depots in Tirupur, only 85 buses out of the total 163 buses in the fleet operated as of 11.00 a.m.
Tirunelveli
Buses stayed off roads in Palayamkottai.
Udhagamandalam
Only 40 of the 345 TNSTC buses in the Udhagamandalam division took to the roads on Friday, reports Rohan Premkumar .
Vellore
TNSTC staff list their demands as CITU, HMS, AITUC, TTSF, PTS and LPF support the strike, seeking a minimum monthly salary of Rs. 19, 500.
Virudhunagar
More than 50% of TNSTC buses plied in Virudhunagar district, reports Sundar Subbaiah .