The strike-hit Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) on Friday said around 26,500 employees have rejoined duty and bus operations had resumed partially from 215 depots.

MSRTC managing director Shekhar Channe said 2,382 buses were deployed to operate 7,138 services and some four lakh people used them.

Since October 28, a vast majority of the 92,000-odd MSRTC staffers are on strike demanding that the undertaking be merged with the state government, and the stir intensified on November 9 after bus operations got paralyzed in almost all depots.

So far, services of over 2,000 daily wage and 3,123 permanent workers have been terminated due to the strike, which had caused a loss of around Rs 1,200 crore so far, Chhanne said retired ST drivers and other drivers have been hired on contract basis to tide over the crisis.

He said the number of staffers resuming duty every day stood at 300-400 due to the appeal of state transport minister Anil Parab, which had resulted in MSRTC managing to resume operations from 215 out of 250 depots.

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