BHUBANESWAR: City bus service is likely to be hit with the employees of the buses threatening an indefinite strike. Irked over the service conditions and apathy of the State Government, a large number of employees has chosen to step down while the City Bus Karmachari Sangha (CBKS) has called for a strike beginning November 23. General secretary of City Bus Karmachari Sangha (CBKS) Sibananda Mallick said a large number of employees have been driven out of their jobs while the rest are going through a traumatic period. A number of educated youths had joined the City Bus Service for Capital City under the impression that they would get a fair deal since Government is a partner in the project, he said. At least, 40 employees have been laid off on flimsy grounds, the body alleged. The association said the authorities had collected ` 10,000 as security deposit at the time of joining service. Now it is being used against them, Mallick said. The management is threatening that the staff would forfeit the deposit if they showed dissent over poor service conditions. Bad service condition apart, the employees alleged that they are not even paid for overtime. “Ever since we began protests against the operators, we have been targeted by hired goons. Even the mediation of the Labour Department did not work,” Mallick said. However, a spokesperson of Dream Team Sahara, the private partner for Bhubaneswar-Puri Transport Service Limited, denied the allegations. “Those who have called for the strike constitute a small group of retrenched employees. The bus service will not be affected by their agitation,” he said adding, the ` 10,000 collected from the employees was security deposit for gadgets and money receipts given to the workers during the duty hours.
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