To break workers’ strike, MSRTC locks them out of resting rooms, throws luggage out

By Thursday evening, over 50 drivers, conductors and mechanics were suspended by the MSRTC’s Pune Division over ‘disciplinary reasons’. Earlier in the day, the Corporation also decided to shut the resting rooms at Swargate, Shivajinagar, Vallabhnagar and Pune station, hoping that shutting access to free accommodation will make the workers, who are presently staging sit-ins outside the depots, to return to their homes, thereby weakening the movement.

“The resting rooms are meant for a night halt for passengers and staffers who come from other places. Since operations are closed and staff members are not reporting to work, there’s no point keeping the rooms open. We have shut them temporarily and have also asked the staffers to take out their trunks,” said Ramakant Gaikwad, divisional controller of MSRTC, Pune.

Meanwhile, private buses continued to operate from all four stations on the second consecutive day. On Wednesday, the state Home department had allowed private buses, school buses and goods carriers to ferry passengers. Dozens of buses are operating from MSRTC stations at Swargate, Shivajinagar, Pune station and Vallabhnagar stands and they have been getting a good response from passengers, said officials.

MSRTC buses had gone off the roads from Monday midnight due to the strike called by the workers’ union. Over 2,600 bus trips that are conducted daily from four stations in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad were cancelled, leading to hefty financial loss to the troubled transport body.

MSRTC workers’ union is demanding a merger of the cash-strapped company with the state government so that its staffers can get emoluments equivalent to those of state government employees. As all MSRTC workers have supported the strike, bus operations from all four important state transport stations in the city — Wakdewadi, Swargate, Vallabh Nagar and Pune station — remain suspended.