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Police swoop on striking Blueline operators

About 500 striking Blueline bus operators were arrested by the police all over the capital in a swoop last night and taken to an undisclosed destination, State Transport Association president Ramesh Dalal said on Saturday.

South Range Additional Commissioner of Police S K Jain said 76 cases have been registered against Blueline operators. Eleven STA leaders were arrested in his range, he said.

Police sources said cases have been filed against eight people in the central district. Of these, two have been taken into custody.

Those arrested in the three-hour drive between 0200 and 0500 hours included STA mahapanchayat working committee president Squadron leader (retired) G S More.

Cases have also been filed against Dalal. The police raided his house but could not arrest him as he had already gone underground, Dalal told UNI on the telephone.

He claimed that a majority of the 3,920 Blueline operators were with him. Dalal said the strike would continue till their demands were met.

He said President K R Narayanan, as the first citizen of the country, should help end the crisis as the Delhi government had failed.

He said Delhi Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna should convene a meeting between the authorities and the STA ''to end the people's sufferings.''

Delhi Transport Minister Rajender Gupta said about 250 Blueline operators had agreed to ply their buses under a DTC scheme. He claimed the situation would normalise by Monday as more buses were expected to arrive from neighbouring states. About 250 buses have already arrived from Punjab.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Transport Corporation, which had been running at a loss before, has earned about Rs 15 million -- a three fold increase -- since the strike. On the second day alone, it earned Rs 9.5 million.

UNI

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