New Delhi: Bus transport services on Tuesday continued to remain crippled across the national capital due to the ongoing strike by Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) employees to protest against the killing of a driver by a biker in an incident of road rage.
The agitating DTC employees have demanded a compensation of Rs 1 crore for the of the deceased driver.
Reacting to the strike, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government on Monday clamped Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) against the agitating staff. The move came after the agitating employees refused to budge and lakhs of people across the city faced harrowing experience in absence of around 4,000 DTC buses on the first day of the strike.
However, DTC claims that services in South and east Delhi are normal and more than 2,000 buses are plying on the road and the number is expected to increase gradually.
"No inconvenience to public will be allowed. This strike is politically motivated. Enough time was given to striking employees to return and resume their service and ESMA has been notified," a senior official told.
DTC driver Ashok Kumar (42) was beaten to death on Sunday allegedly by a youth after his bus grazed the latter's bike in Mundka area of west Delhi. The Delhi government had announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for Kumar's family.
Delhi Police had yesterday arrested the mother of the youth who allegedly thrashed the DTC bus driver to death in Mundka.
The woman, Roshni, who was accused of instigating his son Vijay for attacking Ashok, was arrested from Mundka. The accused Vijay was arrested late on Sunday night, the police said.
While the commuters faced a tough time on the roads, both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and AAP blamed each other for the mess.
The AAP government blamed the BJP for not only politicising the issue but also for the strike.
"BJP is doing politics over the issue. BJP has provoked DTC workers to go on strike. We held a meeting with the police officials and have decided to give security to DTC employees who want to operate the buses," said Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai.
The BJP held a candle light march from Parliament Street to Jantar Mantar demanding justice for the deceased bus driver and asked the Delhi government to increase the compensation to Rs 1 crore. Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay gave Rs 5 lakh to the driver's family.
Upadhyay also met the agitating drivers at Rohini Bus Depot.
