All the 13 depots of MSRTC in Pune Division have shut for operations due to the strike, officials said. Owing to a strike call by the workers’ union of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) demanding a merger of the cash-strapped company with the state government, bus operations from all the four stations in the city — Wakdewadi, Swargate, Chinchwad, Pune Station — remained suspended from the intervening night of Sunday and Monday.
All the 13 depots of MSRTC in Pune Division have shut for operations due to the strike, officials said.
Passengers who were reaching the stations were being turned away as MSRTC staffers staged protests outside the depots. Hundreds of passengers who were unaware about the strike call were surprised by the sudden closure of the services.
Although the demand for the merger was long-pending, the delay in payment of salaries due to the Covid-induced lockdown and the suicide of over 30 employees triggered a spontaneous agitation last week. The state government and the corporation accepted most of the demands made by the employees following which many resumed work but since the issue of merging the corporation with the state government was not resolved, an unannounced agitation/strike started at random depots.
A senior official of MSRTC’s Pune Division said operations were shut 100 per cent due to the strike. “Every day about 2,600-2,800 trips are conducted from the four depots in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. All operations have been halted and passengers are facing inconvenience,” said the official.
A vacation bench of the Bombay High Court is scheduled to hear a petition on the matter Monday.
Sandeep Shinde, state president of the MSRTC workers’ Union, said, “We have decided to shut 100% bus operations as the state government is not ready to listen to and understand our problems. We worked during the festive season so that we could earn some revenue.”
He said that over 129 depots across the state have participated in the strike and the future of the protests depends on the Bombay HC’’s decision.
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