MSRTC employees call off strike after state Transport Minister Anil Parab accepts demands

A day after a statewide strike called by Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) employees severely hampered transport across Maharashtra, the MSRTC employees are expected to call off their strike on Friday allowing bus services to function normally.  

The decision was taken late on Thursday night after state Transport Minister Anil Parab met the Action Committee (AC) of the union and further spoke to the workers and reportedly accepted their demands. Soon after that, the union agreed to resume MSRTC bus operations normally from Friday, the State Transport Ministry informed in an official release. 

The meeting was called on Thursday after the MSRTC strike affected around 190 bus depots across Maharashtra causing difficulties for regular commuters. Parab, who is also the chairman of MSRTC, met leaders of the AC in presence of MSRTC vice-chairman and managing director Shekhar Channe and other senior officials. After holding discussions on their demands, the state transport minister announced that the dearness allowance (DA) of employees will be increased to 28% and their house rent allowance will be on par with those of state government employees. 

Informing about the same, General Secretary of the Maharashtra ST Congress, Shrirang Barge, said that the three main demands of the MSRTC employees have been accepted, reported PTI. 

MSRTC strike brings bus services to a halt in Maharashtra 

Earlier on Thursday, several employees of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation went on an indefinite strike bringing bus services to a halt. The employees were seen agitating continuously for their demands of merging the dearness allowance with salary and further merger of the MSRTC with the state government. 

This came under the view of the recent announcement made by state Transport Minister Anil Parab who declared a hike in the DA of the corporations' employees, meanwhile, only a bonus of Rs 2,500 and 5,000 were declared for the MSRTC employees and officers respectively. 

Speaking on the same, a union leader said, 

"'An action committee of the MSRTC employees' union had started an indefinite agitation for our demands, but no call was given for a strike. The employees spontaneously stopped bus operations in support of the agitation."

Reeling from the financial crisis, the MSRTC has also hiked its fare across all its services except night express buses. 

(With inputs from PTI, Image: PTI)