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MSRTC strike called off after meeting with transport minister Parab
In a meeting held with the state transport minister Anil Parab on Thursday evening, demands made by MSRTC workers were agreed upon and strike was called off
In a major impact on transportation due to the ongoing Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) workers’ strike across the state, in Pune of the daily 850 bus operations, only 100 buses were on the roads on Thursday.
In a meeting held with the state transport minister Anil Parab on Thursday evening, demands made by the workers were agreed upon and from Friday onwards, MSRTC bus operations are expected to resume normally.
On the Pune-Mumbai route only 23 buses operated, as earlier, daily, 200 buses used to ply. As the Diwali rush has started, there are large number of people traveling from Pune to various parts of the state, and also coming to Pune for the festival.
Since Wednesday, MSRTC workers’ union began a statewide strike for various demands, mainly pending dues, a Diwali bonus and extra payment for the those who worked during the lockdowns.
“The ongoing strike has certainly affected our daily bus operations in the Pune division, as hardly 100 buses went on various routes. These buses were from other divisions which had come in yesterday to Pune and returned back to their divisions. Apart from that none of the buses from Pune division went on route as there were no drivers and conductors,” said Ramakant Gaikwad, MSRTC Pune divisional controller.
“Daily, there are 850 bus operations currently on from various ST stands in the Pune division from which buses go all over the state. This drastically came down to 100 buses today, while on the Pune-Mumbai route only 23 buses plied. Whereas there is continuous bus service every 15 minutes on this route,” he added.
Due to this onging strike the public has had to suffer. Meghanath Kendre a banker said, “I had planned to go to Mumbai for personal work by a Shivshahi bus and when I came to Swargate ST stand in the afternoon there were no buses going on this route. I was told that there are no buses running and if any bus goes then it will be announced.”
