The employees of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) have entered the 101st day of their strike on February 4, even though reports state that about 97% depots are under operation.
The state-tun bus service had demanded to merge the loss-making organization with the state government, and began their strike on Oct 28, 2021. This has been the longest strike by MSRTC’s employees in Maharashtra, since their formation.
Despite over 100 days of strike, the state government has not budged from its decision of not going ahead with the merger.
Over the past 101 days, a total of 80 MSRTC employees and their families have commited suicide, stated a report.
Over 92,000 Employees Suspended
As the Maharashtra state-transport service has halted its operations for almost about 4 months now, about 92% of passenger traffic in the state have widely been disturbed.
As per the transport service, at present only 8,000 to 8,500 bus operations are functioning per day, operating from 243 depots across the state.
As a result, the general public and those traveling from rural areas to cities on a daily basis, are being affected. With schools and colleges reopening in Maharashtra, students from rural and semi-urban areas in the state are facing difficulties.
Corporation employees, including conductors and bus drivers are under protest outside major ST stands across Pune district.
Until January, 92,266 employees of MSRTC, and 11,024 workers had been suspended, of which, about 27,000 employees returned to work.
What Does the Corporation Have to Say?
While the govt has clarified that merging the transport corporation with state govt is not feasible, the employees, led by advocate Gunratan Sadavarte are refusing to back down.
Moreover, the deadline given to the three-member committee formed by the Bombay High Court to take a conclusive decision on the strike also ended on Thursday, while the committee did not submit the report, added a HT report.
“As the strike enters its 100th day, we will continue to stay firm till the organisation is merged with the state government. From tomorrow, we will start a signature campaign drive across the state demanding to implement president’s rule in Maharashtra as this state government has become incompetent to run it,” said Sanjay Munde, a suspended ST driver from Pune division.
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