Withdrawn buses, strike to make travel difficult in Avadi

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:  24.11.2020 

Ahead of heavy rain, Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) has reduced bus services in the western suburbs of the city. This, coupled with the upcoming nationwide trade unions’ strike, could make commuting difficult for residents.

The MTC management, however, said the strike on November 26 will not have an impact on services as they have enough staff who will not participate in the strike. These staff belong to Anna Thozhil Sangam, a union affiliated to the ruling AIADMK. The corporation will run 2,500-odd buses in the city.

“But around 10,000 workers in Chennai are expected to participate in the strike against the central government’s anti-labour policies,” said K Aarumugha Nainaar from CITU, which will join hands with the DMK-affiliated Labour Progressive Front, in Tamil Nadu for the strike.

R M Swamy from SVSAAP union, which has decided not to participate in the strike, said none of the political parties, which called for strike, tried to resolve the long-pending issues. “They were using workers as pawns for their political motives and gain,” he said.

Asked about the withdrawn services on the outskirts, a senior MTC official said nine services have been stopped temporarily as their earnings per kilometre were below par. Of them, six were from the Avadi depot. These include routes 47D SP (Avadi-Thiruvanmiyur) and 104A (Avadi-Tambaram), introduced last month. These buses fetched around Rs 6,000 a day through ticket sales.

T Sadagopan, a consumer rights’ activist from Avadi, said commuting will become expensive in the absence of buses.

“There are no local trains and people here depend on MTC buses for commuting. With no buses, people will have to spend Rs 50-70 extra every day on share autos to reach Ambattur or Koyambedu.”

MTC has already stopped operating services such as 71E (Broadway-Thirunindravur) because of traffic restrictions to facilitate construction of a bridge at Pattabiram. Residents who stay on the other side of Outer Ring Road have to take three buses to reach the city and spend at least three hours extra a day for travel, he said.