Ill-maintained’ buses tough to handle, say temporary staff

TNN | Updated: Jan 8, 2018, 00:51 IST

Chennai: Temporary staff operating government buses on ad hoc basis said they found it increasingly difficult to operate the 'badly-maintained' buses.

Some said they were being forced to work for 14 hours to 16 hours at a stretch to compensate for the high absenteeism. "The temporary staff are being paid between Rs 250 to Rs 450 per day across the state. These rates are way lower to what we earn by operating other commercial vehicles," said one temporary driver from Tuticorin. "Local depot managers and regional transport authorities threatened us that we would face the consequences if we did not agree to their demands," he added.

Another driver, who was operating an MTC bus between Vadapalani and Besant Nagar bus depot, said he had to pump the brake pedals hard to stop the bus at the desired spot.

"On normal days, these buses were operated for at least 500km to 1,000km. Now it is being operated for less than 200km a day. It is difficult to continue operation without maintenance. By running these badly-maintained buses, MTC is putting lives of people at risk," said Sampath Kumar from state transport staff federation.

"It is impossible to run these buses without drivers who are familiar with it. The buses are very old and seldom adequate fund is allocated for repair and fixing spare parts," said Periasamy from DMK's Labour Progressive Front.

According to Union road transport ministry data, 72% buses in MTC's fleet were old and contributed for most number of accidents by any state transport corporation in the country.

Sampath said the state transport department has planned to rope in more permanent staff and private buses into operation as traffic is expected to flare up on Monday. "Not only private buses, even schools were instructed to send their vehicles to the local government bus depots after they were done with their regular sift," he said.