Bus operations resume at 105 MSRTC depots but staff strike continues

Employees of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation MSRTC continued their strike for the 40th day on Monday even as bus operations resumed at more than 100 out of the total 250 depots across the state as around 19,000 staffers reported for duty, officials said.According to an MSRTC release, bus operations started at 105 depots across the state as against 49 on December 3 after around 19,000 employees reported for duty amid the strike called to seek merger of the loss-making corporation with the state government.The state-run transport body has a strength of 92,266 employees.

Employees of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) continued their strike for the 40th day on Monday even as bus operations resumed at more than 100 out of the total 250 depots across the state as around 19,000 staffers reported for duty, officials said.

According to an MSRTC release, bus operations started at 105 depots across the state as against 49 on December 3 after around 19,000 employees reported for duty amid the strike called to seek merger of the loss-making corporation with the state government.

The state-run transport body has a strength of 92,266 employees. It means more than 73,000 employees are still on strike to push for their sole demand of merger of the corporation with the government that will ensure better and timely salaries like the state employees.

The release highlighted that on Sunday the corporation ferried over 1.04 lakh passengers as more than 1,700 services operated with around 735 buses on various routes across the state. The cash-strapped corporation also informed that it earned Rs 76.30 lakh from these bus operations.

The corporation on Monday filed police complaints against more than a dozen employees at Latur and Dharur in the Marathwada region for obstructing movement of it's outbound buses at depots, the release said.

It further said it has been giving police protection to employees who are performing their duty despite the strike, which started on October 28 and was intensified last month.

According to the MSRTC, nearly 40 buses have been damaged during the strike period and so far the corporation has filed as many as 93 police complaints for incidents like obstruction of their buses and abusing employees.

The state-owned corporation has so far suspended 9,625 permanent employees and terminated the services of 1,990 daily wage workers following the strike, as per MSRTC officials.

Despite repeated appeals and warnings by Transport Minister Anil Parab, who is also the MSRTC chairman, a large number of employees are continuing the strike and many of them have protested outside the depots and bus stands of the corporation.

The MSRTC is one of the biggest public transport bodies in the country with a fleet of around 16,000 buses.

The corporation used to ferry nearly 65 lakh passengers per day before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

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