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Mumbai: Public bus transport services in Maharashtra have come to a standstill for the past fortnight as the workers’ strike continues. On Wednesday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray made a personal appeal to the workers to resume work, but that too failed to bring them back.
The striking employees of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) are demanding, among other things, the merger of the loss-making corporation with the state government. While MSRTC is a branch of the government, it is a separate registered entity. The compensation and allowances to the employees of state-owned corporations are not necessarily the same that the state government provides to its employees.
All the 250 depots of MSRTC are currently non-functional and the corporation has so far suspended 1,135 employees for being on strike till Thursday, an MSRTC official said. According to state transport corporation data, MSRTC had already suffered a loss of Rs 111 crore due to the strike till Wednesday.
On Friday, as the strike entered its 16th day, MSRTC employees continued their protest at Azad Maidan in Mumbai.
Many from across the state have flown to Mumbai to be a part of the protest, while others have been demonstrating in their home cities or towns, often resorting to unique methods to attract attention.
For example, in Dhule, a group of MSRTC employees put up banners with the words “suspend me too” and donated blood. Fight between laborers and their families in Pune Plate in one place and staged a shirtless protest On the other, while in Nashik workers shave off His sir.
MSRTC is one of the largest road transport corporations in the country and has been incurring losses for the past several years. The financial condition of the corporation had worsened due to the pandemic. Corporation between April 2020 to May 2021 damage done 6,400 crores.
According to the data from Maharashtra’s Economic Survey report for 2020-21, MSRTC has a fleet of 17,773 buses and an employee base of 96,441.
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strike workers demand
Due to the poor financial condition of MSRTC, there have been intermittent delays in salaries of many employees in the last few months. Some workers have committed suicide Due to financial constraints and delayed remuneration.
Persistent delay in payment of salaries prompted MSRTC employees to declare a strike from October 27, just before Diwali – when many people use state transport buses to visit their hometowns and families . The employees have been demanding a pay hike and being classified at par with state government employees, apart from the merger of MSRTC with the Maharashtra government.
Bombay High Court on Monday directed Maharashtra government will constitute a committee to look into the demands of the disgruntled employees of MSRTC. The government formed a panel of senior bureaucrats from MSRTC, finance and transport departments, after which the court asked the striking employees to resume work.
When most of the workers continued their agitation, MSRTC filed contempt petition in the Bombay High Court on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, state transport minister Anil Parab held a meeting with the striking workers union on Wednesday, after which he told reporters, “I had met the workers union before Diwali and agreed to most of their demands. The final discussion regarding the merger of MSRTC with the state government took place today. I told him, a committee has been formed. We have to give our representation to the committee, which will give its report in 12 weeks and the state government will decide on it.
Parab, who is also the chairman of MSRTC, requested the union to place the facts before the disgruntled employees and urge them to return to work.
However, the strike continues despite CM Thackeray also making a direct appeal to the protesting MSRTC employees to return to work on Wednesday.
In a statement, Thackeray said, “Dear ST employees, you are our own. not external. For the past few days, the state government is trying hard to fulfill your demands and give you relief. The State Government has also submitted before the (Bombay) High Court that the steps we are taking to resolve your issues and the High Court is also satisfied.
The CM said, “In this situation, I am appealing to you with folded hands, please do not protest like that which asks the poor and common people of the state for ransom.”
With BJP and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) supporting the protesting employees, Thackeray has warned political parties not to use the MSRTC employees’ agitation to further their political agenda.
(Edited by Polomi Banerjee)
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