MSRTC employees' strike continues; Fadnavis meets Parab

The strike of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation MSRTC employees continued on the 22nd day on Thursday with no end to the logjam in sight.BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis met Maharashtra transport minister Anil Parab here to discuss the issue.


PTI | Mumbai | Updated: 19-11-2021 00:25 IST | Created: 18-11-2021 23:47 IST
MSRTC employees' strike continues; Fadnavis meets Parab
Representative image Image Credit: ANI
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The strike of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) employees continued on the 22nd day on Thursday with no end to the logjam in sight.

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis met Maharashtra transport minister Anil Parab here to discuss the issue. It was not desirable that the strike should continue for a long time, Fadnavis tweeted later.

''...these issues should be resolved as soon as possible. We will help,'' the former chief minister added.

Parab, meanwhile, held a meeting with MSRTC officials at the corporation's headquarters in the evening.

At least 7,541 out of 92,266 employees reported to work during the day, but it provided very little relief to harried travelers.

An MSRTC official said the corporation operated 144 buses and ferried over 3,500 passengers as of 8 pm on Thursday. The highest 32 buses operated on Dadar-Pune Station route. The employees are seeking merger of the loss-making MSRTC with the state government which will give them the status of government employees and better salaries.

While the strike began on October 28, all 250 bus depots of the corporation have been shut since November 9.

Since last week, the corporation has suspended over 2,000 employees for participating in the strike and has served service termination notices to 2,296 of 2,584 daily-wage workers.

A 29-year-old MSRTC employee allegedly died by suicide in Maharashtra's Buldhana district, police said.

Vishal Ambalkar, a resident of Matargaon, consumed poison at his home on Tuesday and died at a government hospital in Akola on Wednesday night, a police official said, adding that the reason for the alleged suicide was yet to be ascertained.

The MSRTC has a fleet of more than 16,000 buses. The corporation used to ferry over 65 lakh passengers daily before the coronavirus outbreak.

Travelers have been forced to rely on private vehicles due to the strike, and there are complaints of overcharging.

The state government has permitted private buses, goods vehicles and contract-carriage buses to ferry passengers till the strike is over. PTI KK ARU KRK KRK

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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