Vijayapura: When Asha Jangamshetty, wife of NEKRTC driver saw a notice pasted on the door of her quarters, mentioning that the house facility would be withdrawn if her husband fails to join the duty, she was shocked. Later, she realized that the officials of NEKRTC had pasted similar notices on the quarters of all 56 employees.
“Initially, we were shocked to see the notice, but we realized soon that it is the pressure tactics being used by the government to break the unity of the employees and sabotage the protests launched by KSRTC employees demanding salary as per 6th pay commission,” she said. The employees alleged that after they resorted to indefinite strike in support of the demand, the government is using pressure tactics to ensure that the employees join duty.
But the family members of the employees who appear to be determined not to let them join the duty without getting their demands met, said that in no case they will succumb to the pressures of the government. “Sometime ago, the employees had gone on strike asking the government to consider them as government employees. At that time, the government did not agree to the demand, however, it announced to pay salary as per 6th pay commission. The demand was not made by us, it was the government that offered the package. Now, it is the duty of the government to fulfil its assurance,” the employees said.
Asserting that there is no going back on their demand now, the employees said that they are ready for any kind of situation including being removed from the quarters. “We have now reached the stage of fighting intensely. There is no going back on it. Let the government put any kind of pressure on us,” the employees asserted.
Meanwhile, Narayan Kurubar, Divisional Controller, in a release stated that the objective of pasting notice is not to make the employees vacate the houses or to threaten them. He clarified that it is only to urge the employees to join the duty as common people are suffering owing to the strike. “We have no plan to vacate the houses if they don’t join the duty. Some people have misunderstood our intent,” he further stated in the release.
