MSRTC strike day 2: Empty depots
The second day saw almost none of the 658 services operating while only one was run on the previous day.
Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) strike entered its second day on Wednesday, with many passengers staying away from MSRTC buses after observing the inconvenience caused on Tuesday. Sources within the MSRTC have said that the rush usually dies down during the daytime on the day after the Dhanteras but is expected to pick up speed by Thursday night. Sources said officials are dreading the latter scenario. Negotiations between the protestors and the government was expected to reach some conclusion on Wednesday.
The second day saw almost none of the 658 services operating while only one was run on the previous day. Most of the rush was limited during the daytime as passengers had made their way across the state and between Mumbai and Pune via other modes of transport and also by doling out high prices to private cabs. The MSRTC runs around 25,000 buses every day across Maharashtra per day Tuesday saw almost 98 per cent of the service being affected.
The strike began from midnight of Tuesday after almost 1 lakh MSRTC employees demanded that they be paid according to the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission and had opposed the initial idea of only 10 per cent hike in salaries.
Passengers Ashok Kamble (45) said he plans to travel back from his hometown in Kohlapur to Mumbai on Wednesday night itself, because most of his family wants to go out for the weekend in the city. He said, “I am in my hometown for a little over 24 hours and I plan to come back to Mumbai. Travelling in the ST is cheap and it takes me to Dadar from where I travel to Kalwa.” He further added, “The only way to come back now will be the train and I will have to check the schedule of the same.”
Transport minister Diwakar Roate has asked the striking workers to come back and take out the buses lying idle in depots but the unions have dug in their heels and have said they are not in the mood for negotiations.
Maharashtra State ST Kamagar Sanghatana leader Sandeep Shinde said, “We are still in negotiation stage.”