PONDA: They slog in the sun and rain and also during the intense summer. They ensure that kids are picked up safely from their homes and ferried to their schools and back. In cases of inter-school events, they have to wait thus extending their duty hours. What hurts the drivers and the attendants of the Balrath is that instead of accolades and a hike in their salaries, their efforts are displayed reportedly in a miniscule manner even in the Assembly.
“The recent statement that Balrath employees work just for an hour has hurt us a great deal,” said Shivkumar Naik, general secretary of United Balrath Employees and its Vice President Rajendra Gavde. There are 422 Balrath buses with a staff strength of 844, including drivers and operators. They said the government has failed to take note of their plight.
Even though their salaries fixed by the government at Rs 10,000 for a driver and Rs 5,000 for an attendant, at times the school management dishes out something between Rs 6,000 and 8,000 to drivers and a meagre Rs 3,000 instead of Rs 5,000 to attendants. They demanded a pay hike of Rs 20K for drivers and 14.5K for attendants. They also said they were employed for 10 months a year as per the school calendar and no one is bothered what these staffers will do for the remaining two months. There are some 420 Balrath buses in Ponda Taluka alone.
They also said, even as the vehicles belonged to the government, the drivers and attendants were employed through the management of aided schools and they government has to keep a strict vigil on how these staffers are being treated. They also alleged that some schools utilise them to ferry primary students in an unauthorised manner. They are also pressed into election duty.
They said the Director of Education, Gajanan Bhat, issues circular to these staffers to go to various places but when their plights are brought to his notice, he says he cannot help them as the matter is not under his jurisdiction. Balrath drivers have no security cover. At least two drivers and an attendant died in accidents but their families were not given any compensation.
Members of the Balrath Employees’ Union have objected to the government’s handling of the bus service, and have demanded resolving issues ranging from salary disparity and unfair labour practices.
When the scheme was first launched in 2010, it was handled by the social welfare department, then it was transferred to the tribal welfare department, and now it is being headed by the education department. But their problems have not been resolved since 2011, and we have time and again been placed in front of the government, but nothing has happened, he said.
He pointed out that buses that were brand new in 2010 are now facing problems and are in dilapidated state as there is no passing by RTO.
Among the list of demands, the 844 employees working as drivers and attendants for 422 Bal Rath buses have asked for an increase in salary and demand for government job.
They have also demanded ending unfair labour practices and harassment meted out to its members by management of aided Schools. The workers also lamented having to do work other than the job specified to them at the schools they have been posted.
“We are ready for any work, provided the government should employ us directly and also hike our salary. Who will employ us after our duty hours? The government itself should employ us till the end of school hours,” said Naik.
The Union has also raised an objection to being employed for only ten months of the year when schools are in session, rather than being throughout the year.
“The break period of two long months is unbearable, which leads to a lot of hardship to employees and their families,” said union general secretary, Shiv Kumar Naik.
Even though Balrath is a government scheme, but the government has adopted bad policy. Instead of employing them directly, the government provides annual salary grants to aided school which manage the affairs of Balrath and this is big injustice by government to the staff.
