Bengaluru, Sept. 18 -- The Karnataka government's approval for 4,500 new electric buses for BMTC under the Centre's PM E-DRIVE scheme has opened a fresh dispute over who should operate the vehicles, with the transport employees' federation warning of a large-scale agitation if private drivers are brought in.

The employees' body has urged the state and Union governments to ensure that the buses are driven and managed by BMTC's existing workforce. Federation state president R. Chandrashekar has written to Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, seeking an end to what the workers described as the proposed dependence on private operators.

The federation claimed that the performance of privately operated electric ...