No additional grants for fuel, wages of transport dept employees: Karnataka govt order sparks row

Anbukumar V, managing director of KSRTC, said, “I don’t think this is a setback. I believe the response is in the context of Shakti Yojana. We will once again request the finance department for the grants. Because without funds, running the corporations would be a challenge.”

Chandru, president of Sarige Noukara Okkuta, a transport workers’ union, said, “We will bring up the issue before the KSRTC to ensure that grants are approved for the corporations. If the government does not approve the grants, the corporations will go into a crisis.”

Meanwhile, the non-approval of grants has sparked a political row, with the BJP slamming the Congress government for putting the lives of transport officials at risk. The BJP in a tweet said, “Hon @siddaramaiah don’t put the employees of transport agencies and corporations livelihood at risk on the pretext of implementing their ill-conceived schemes.”

Former higher education and IT-BT minister Dr Ashwath Narayan said, “#ATMSarkara is now on the hot seat! The gift of CONgress Guarantees!”

The crisis comes at a time when the transport corporations would need over Rs 4,000 crore to run the Shakti Yojana. Under the scheme, women and transgenders are given free travel facilities in government buses. Since the scheme’s launch on June 11, over 1.4 crore women passengers have availed the free travel facility in government buses across all the four transport corporations. The total cost incurred by the transport corporations so far is over Rs 31 crore. As per the framework, the government will compensate the transport corporations based on the distance travelled by the women.