As the strike started on October 28 by the employees of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) continues, the state council chairman Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar on Tuesday asked the state government to soon set up a committee of members from the ruling and opposition parties of both the houses of the legislature to hold talks with the striking employees sitting at Azad Maidan. Nimbalkar’s announcement came days after the three-member committee headed by the former chief secretary ruled out the possibility of MSRTC’s merger with the state government. Transport Minister Anil Parab announced a committee will be soon established.
"It simply came to our notice then. We have witnessed that during the festive season the commuters faced huge problems due to the strike. Therefore, a committee comprising the members from the ruling and opposition benches should be set up to hold discussions with the agitating employees and resolve the issues raised by them,’’ said Nimbalkar.
Parab earlier told the council a slew of decisions including salary hikes taken by the government and the MSRTC. Besides, the government made appeals to the striking employees to return to work. Despite this, the MSRTC employees have continued their strike demanding the merger with the state government.
Nimbalkar’s directive followed by Parab’s announcement to form a committee is important as MSRTC has already incurred a loss of over Rs 1,200 crore due to the ongoing strike which started on October 28, 2021 disrupting its services and causing inconvenience to many. MSRTC’s accumulated loss is expected to be Rs 11,000 crore due to the closure of its services because of pandemic induced lockdowns and various curbs introduced by the state government since the outbreak of covid 19 in March 2020.
Parab has said 28,000 employees of 92,000 plus MSRTC employees have resumed work while those who have been expelled have been given time to re-join after completion of legal formalities. He assured that the MSRTC will revoke the suspension of employees if they resume their work by March 10.
