Pawar urges striking MSRTC employees to rejoin duty; govt assures no action

NCP president Sharad Pawar on Monday appealed to Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) employees, who are on a strike for more than two months now, to rejoin duty, while Transport Minister Anil Parab assured no disciplinary action will be taken against 50,000-odd agitating staffers.

Pawar, whose party is a key constituent of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, made the appeal at a meeting of an action committee of labour unions held at Sahyadri Guest house in South Mumbai. At the meeting, Parab assured that no disciplinary action will be taken against around 50,000 MSRTC employees who are currently participating in the strike demanding merger of the loss-marking corporation with the state government for better salaries and other benefits. The minister said the government will also positively think about cases of staffers who have been suspended or dismissed since the stir began. Since October 28, 2021, a majority of MSRTC employees are on strike, which intensified from November 9, paralyzing the bus services of the state-run transport undertaking.

According to an MSRTC release, the corporation has served show-cause notices to around 50,000 striking employees, but it has not taken actions against them like suspension or dismissal from service. Speaking at the meeting, Pawar said for the past two years, the coronavirus pandemic has caused financial losses to the state transport corporation, which is connected to the common man. A question mark has arisen over the very existence of the organisation, the former Union minister said and appealed to the employees to immediately rejoin duty to avoid hardship to lakhs of passengers and for the future of MSRTC. "No action will be taken against the around 50,000 employees, who have been participating in the strike... so far no action has been taken against them," Parab said. The minister said at the same the government will take sympathetic and positive stand about the employees who have already been suspended or dismissed from service after the agitation started. According to union leaders, the committee has demanded a roll back of actions taken against the employees besides doing away with anomalies in salaries of MSRTC staffers. MSRTC is one of the biggest public transport bodies in the county with a fleet of around 16,000 buses and nearly 93,000 employees. Corporation buses used to ferry around 65 lakh passengers daily before the pandemic.