PANAJI
The striking Balrath drivers and attendants/cleaners on Tuesday got a sympathetic response to their core demand of higher monthly remuneration from MLAs cutting across party lines following which Chief Minister Pramod Sawant assured the House that the wages will be revised satisfactorily in consultation with their union leaders.
Sawant said, he would meet with four leaders of their Union on Wednesday and revise the monthly wage figure to the satisfaction of all.
With the strike entering a second day, inconveniencing thousands of students to get to schools across the State, the issue was raised in the House via a calling attention motion jointly by Independent legislator Dr Chandrakant Shetye and the Lobo couple Michael and Delilah.
Almost every MLA who joined the debate expressed sentiments which were in favour of acceding to the striking drivers and attendants' demand to raise their monthly wage to Rs 20,000 and 14,000 respectively.
Earlier, before the MLAs from both the sides could join in the debate, Sawant had tabled a detailed response to the motion in which he had said that the government has already revised the scheme and increased the driver's pay to Rs 12,000 and that of the attendant/cleaner to 6,000 monthly.
However, when members joined in the discussion, the sentiment of the House quickly shifted towards substantially enhancing the wages.
Calangute MLA, Michael Lobo set the ball rolling by urging the Chief Minister to accept their demands and raise the salaries to Rs 20,000 and Rs 14,000.
Lobo said the salaries drawn by the drivers and attendants were very poor.
“The salary of drivers has to be hiked from Rs 12,000 to Rs 20,000 while the conductors should get Rs 14,000 from the current Rs 6,000 they are drawing,” Lobo said.
Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai said several parents entrusted the safety of their children with these drivers and attendants. He stressed on the need to revive the old Balrath scheme where the government had decided to stop plying Balrath buses which completed five years.
“Most of the buses have completed seven years and the fitness of these buses are questionable. The lives of our school kids are precious and therefore the government needs to take a decision of replacing these buses,” Sardesai said.
Benaulim MLA, Venzy Viegas slammed the government for paying pittance to the drivers and emphasised the need to increase their package.
“The drivers had demanded to hike their salaries to Rs 30,000 and the government has increased their pay by only Rs 1,000. This is very unfair. They should get a sizeable income to make a living,” Viegas said.
St Andre MLA, Viresh Borkar and Mayem MLA Premendra Shet also spoke in favour of the drivers.
Earlier, Shetye, who had moved the motion along with the Lobo couple, said various aided and government schools were facing a problem due to sudden stoppage of Balrath services due to the strike. He also said that he agreed with Lobo's suggestion that the salaries be raised to Rs 20,000 and Rs 14,000.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Opposition Leader Yuril Alemao and Margao MLA, Digambar Kamat.
Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar also stepped in and told the Chief Minister that the amount was too less.
Over 600 Bal Rath employees have been on an indefinite strike since Monday morning to fight for their salary hike demand among other service related matters, leaving thousands of students from across the State to face hardships getting to school.
