Navani H. Nagesh
Have you ever seen a bus company where its employees are the owners? Well, there is a bus
company called Sahakara Sarige also known as Transport Co-operative Services (TCS) in
Koppa, a part of the Malnad region where bus drivers were the owners.
The buses used to travel to places like Thirthahalli - Koppa- Chikmagalur- Sringeri- Shimoga-
Udupi. The bus also used to travel to many remote places which helped many children to go to school, It also helped many laborers and senior citizens to travel to different places. The bus company used to provide 50% concession to students and senior citizens which helped daily wage laborers send their students to school and colleges.
The company started on March 8, 1991. Earlier, the employees used to work in Shankar
Transport services, when they all requested the owners to hike their salaries they closed their
company. Around 123 employees were working and had got a 12 lakh compensation as the
company got closed. Employees funded all their money and started their own bus companies. At first, it started with six buses only, and later on, it had approximately 76 buses. In 1998 it built its own office. Around 300 employees were working in Sahakara Sarige and when the company closed, it affected all the employees and their families. Now all the buses and their parts are ruined because of rust. The company started facing losses in 2017. It could not pay road taxes, salaries, and bonuses to its employees. As the diesel prices hiked it led to huge tension between the employees. The company also approached the government a few times but the government did not respond.
It had also requested the government to take over the company, but it did not accept their request. The company had borrowed approximately Rs 1.02 crore from the bank during the construction of the office building. As it suffered from losses it could not pay a few installments due to which the bank went to court and the court ordered it to close the company. And finally, the company stopped its services in 2019. In 2020 and 2021 everyone had hoped that the company would start services but as it did not get any funds it did not move forward.
According to Sudheer, a bus agent, who was working as a conductor in Sahakara Sarige “The
loss is due to mismanagement.” He also said that they have not paid road tax on the buses and they have not credited employees Provident Fund (PF) for the last three years to PF accounts. A fellow passenger (who wants to remain anonymous) who used to travel on the bus said, “I used to travel to school on this bus and I only used to pay three rupees.” She also said that the services were good. Even though she was from a remote area, buses used to pass through her locality which helped her go to school.
Employees did not get any compensation from the management when Sahakara Sarige
closed and the employees filed a case against the management in the labor court. The latest development of the Sahakara Sarige case is that the employees have formed a new committee and are trying to revive the company.
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