Bengaluru Metro employees strike work

The arrest of a few Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) employees on Thursday night by the police left thousands of Namma Metro commuters stranded on Friday as employees went on a flash strike and refused to begin operations. Namma Metro, which normally starts at 5 AM on both lines, did not open its shutters to the public and all services were closed.

On Thursday morning, a scuffle had broken out between a few employees and the security personnel guarding the Sir M Visvesvaraya station (Central College) . While the issue did not affect operations during the day, a case was booked in the evening, against five BMRCL employees and two were arrested according to police officers.

This led to the strike on Friday morning which remains unresolved at this time. The Purple and Green lines together ferry around 3 lakh passengers across the city everyday. “All our services are down and talks are on to resume them as soon as possible,” said a senior BMRCL official. Meanwhile, striking employees are protesting outside the Baiyappanahalli depot.

The unexpected disruption in services has left a lot of passengers on their way to work disgruntled as they had to now find alternative modes of transport. “Sir, Metro is an essential service and should NOT be treated as pvt enterprise. Sack employees on strike for whatever reason,” said one frustrated passenger on Twitter. Another questioned the lack of a plan B to continue operations. “This is totally unprofessional. Shouldn’t this come under ESMA?” tweeted @autobahn_dsgnr.