Bus passengers were left in lurch in the city on Monday as the ‘Mo Bus’ conductors went on a strike over nonpayment of salary to them.
A vast majority of the bus conductors ceased work alleging they are not only underpaid but their salary has also not been paid for last three months.
A total of 190 conductors are engaged in 95 buses run by the Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT), a company formed by the State Government for providing public transport in Bhubaneswar connecting neighbourhoods. Out of them, 180 conductors joined the strike.
An agitating conductor said, “We are not getting the amount of salary promised to us during our recruitment. Even the fixed salary has not been paid to us for last two or three months. It has become a big problem for us to manage our households without regular salary.”
He said the conductor are paid an average of Rs 7,500 to Rs 8,000 each monthly after deduction from the total salary of Rs 12,000. When asked about the deduction, the authorities said it is done for EPF (11 per cent) and ESI (3 per cent). But if the percentage is taken into account, an amount of Rs 1,440 to Rs 1,500 should be deducted. When asked about rest of deducted amount, the authorities failed to provide the details.
