Cluster buses to be back on road today

NEW DELHI: Bus commuters in Delhi have been facing a tough time since Thursday with a large number of cluster scheme buses going off the roads. The situation is set to get better from Sunday with the protesting drivers of these buses calling off the strike on Saturday.
The unions of drivers, who run these cluster buses, have been demanding better working conditions and salaries at par with conductors of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC). Under the cluster scheme, which is run by the Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System (DIMTS), the buses and drivers are provided by private concessionaires, while DTC or DIMTS provide conductors. The concessionaires get paid for the distance travelled by the buses.

“At present, drivers of cluster buses are paid Rs 16,468 per month and we are demanding a salary of Rs 24,000,” said Chand Babu Gola, president, DTC and Cluster Conductor Driver Association. “Drivers also end up working for 12 hours or more in gruelling traffic conditions. We have demanded an eight-hour shift for them and that is why we went on a strike,” he said.

The strike, however, was called off on Saturday afternoon after a meeting between the unions and transport authorities. “We have met the transport commissioner and have been promised that our demands would be met. All the buses would be back on the roads from Sunday,” Gola said.

The Delhi government was also directed by the Delhi high court to deposit the entire amount payable to the drivers of the cluster buses. The direction came in the wake of a plea moved by some concessionaires who run buses under the cluster scheme that the transport department has not been paying hiked minimum wages to its drivers.

“We will deposit the amount in the court within the time provided to us,” a transport department official said. He added that cluster buses had started operating since Saturday itself.

Commuters, however, complained that very few buses were available on the roads and in the absence of cluster buses.