Fewer strikes, better performance and low rate of accidents

By B.S.Ramesh

BANGALORE, JUNE 6. Ramaiah (not his real name), a driver in Raichur division of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), was absenting himself frequently from duty. An alcoholic, Ramaiah had been introduced to drinking by his colleagues. From a social drinker, he soon became an addict. His life was in tatters, and he spent his entire salary on alcohol.

Venkatesh, a driver in the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), became an alcoholic thanks to the "company" he kept. As his drinking bouts became frequent, his family life fell apart.

Ramaiah and Venkatesh were admitted to the KSRTC hospital in Jayanagar, Bangalore, under the workplace alcohol prevention programme and activity (WAPPA). In two months, both of them recovered and resolved not to drink again.

The cases of Venkatesh and Ramaiah are not isolated ones. Over 985 alcoholics have been treated in the hospital in the three years of its existence.

Started on January 30, 1997, this "proactive vigilance" programme was also aimed at curbing worker indiscipline. The anti-alcohol programme was taken up on a war footing as the KSRTC found that alcohol abuse among the employees had a serious impact on passenger safety. With over 400 fatal accidents involving 500 deaths and 5,000 injuries, the compensation claims against the KSRTC ran into more than Rs. 3,00 crores. Concerned over this, the Director of the KSRTC (Security and Vigilance), Mr. R.Sri Kumar, decided to take up a "humane and welfare-oriented" de- addiction programme.

The corporation undertook several studies and analyses in 1996-97 to understand the magnitude of the problem. It was seen that on an average one employee died every day with their average age being between 38 years and 48 years. Almost all of them had at least 10 years of service left. The main causes of death were found to be heart attack, cancer and alcohol-related diseases in that order.

The WAPPA has helped the KSRTC in reducing road accidents, curbing absenteeism and indiscipline. The losses of the corporation also came down from Rs. 94.5 crores to Rs. 2.6 crores in 1998-99. The programme has played a pivotal role in bringing down the number of accidents. The KSRTC had done a survey, "Costing an accident", in Hassan. It showed that while the IMV inspecton, transportation charges, attendance and immediate relief cost Rs. 2 lakhs to the corporation, damages to vehicles and repair costs were estimated at Rs. 13 lakhs, loss of vehicle days and resultant revenue loss were 715 days and Rs. 44 lakhs, respectively, public compensation amounted to Rs. 3.1 crores, default case expenses were Rs. 1.59 lakhs and expenditure on court cases was Rs. 3 lakhs.

Mr. Sri Kumar says that the accident rate and strikes by employees have come down considerably after the WAPPA was introduced. From eight in 1989 and 49 in 1993, the number of strikes has come down to one in 1999. This year, there has not been a single strike so far. The rate of accidents has fallen sharply from 0.29 accidents per lakh kilometres to 0.18 in 1998- 99.

An in-house survey of the organisation has identified 5,248 chronic cases of alcoholism, 14,500 social drinkers and 48,252 teetotalers. Considering alcohol addiction as a health problem, the KSRTC decided to spend time and effort to encourage its employees to give up drinking. The corporation spends Rs. 5,000 on each identified employee, who is deputed for treatment for alcoholism to the hospital, says the Chief Medical Officer of the hospital, Dr. S.Manohar.

Dr. G.Y.Narayan, Senior Medical Officer, says that at present, the hospital can treat 30 alcoholics at a time. Patients are discharged and admitted on Saturdays.

Dr. Narayan and Dr. Manohar claim that the hospital has a success rate of 60 per cent, which is a record. The hospital is ranked the best of its kind and has attracted the attention of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The ILO experts, who were in Bangalore sometime ago, were highly impressed with the treatment given at the hospital.

The State Government also was enthused by the work of the hospital and had asked the KSRTC to help set up an alcohol de- addiction centre for private transporters.

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Section  : Southern States
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