The transport department in West Bengal is going through a process of self-discovery. According to a recent report, the transport system run by the state government is facing its biggest losses because of the comfort level of its employees. Not enough buses are put on the roads, there is a lethargy about getting passengers on, and there are just too many workers assigned to each bus. In 2005-06, the Calcutta State Transport Corporation ran at a loss of Rs 62 crore, up three times from the Rs 17 crore of the previous year. In 2005-06, it was seen that the CSTC buses had 11 personnel assigned to each vehicle, the North Bengal State Transport Corporation had 12, the South Bengal State Transport Corporation eight, and a bus of the Calcutta Tramways Corporation 38.

A government employee never loses his job. This perception of security, according to the report, is the chief reason behind this irresponsible work culture. But government jobs are comparatively secure everywhere in India; security should encourage, not discourage, good work ethics. That this normal expectation has been turned on its head should be attributed to other factors, those that are special to West Bengal. The tremendous clout of employees’ unions is a direct legacy of the three-decade rule of the Left Front in the state. Meetings between the finance minister and the transport minister have not brought forth solutions, but they have identified more problems, among which are corruption, a higher rate of absence and an increase in the number of employees who do not work. That they cannot do anything about it is because politicians are now caught in the system that they have created. Nurturing vote banks in the name of ideology is one thing, governance is quite another.