Maha govt sacks another 380 employees as MSRTC strike continues

The Maharashtra government on Saturday terminated the services of 380 MSRTC employees for refusing to end ongoing strike which continued on the 24th day, an official said.Transport minister Anil Parab, meanwhile, said the government was ready to discuss everything except the demand of merger.

The Maharashtra government on Saturday terminated the services of 380 MSRTC employees for refusing to end ongoing strike which continued on the 24th day, an official said.

Transport minister Anil Parab, meanwhile, said the government was ready to discuss everything except the demand of merger. So far, the government has sacked 618 of over 90,000 employees of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, the state-run bus service, for not joining duty despite several appeals.

Further, 161 employees were suspended during the day, taking the total of suspended employees to 2,937. The corporation managed to run 143 buses, transporting 4,280 passengers in total, on Saturday.

Merger of the cash-strapped corporation with the state government is the main demand of the employees who are on strike since October 28.

''The government is ready to discuss all demands excepts merger,'' minister Parab told reporters.

The government will take the report of the committee appointed on the order of the Bombay High Court to examine the employees' demands seriously, he said.

"The employees should not listen to the leaders who are only interested in politics. By doing so, the employees will put their own future in danger," he added.

The strike is causing immense hardship to lakhs of travelers across the state, especially in rural and semi-urban areas where MSRTC or `ST' (state transport) buses are the mainstay of the public transport system. PTI ND KRK KRK

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