PMPML clears ₹66 crore outstanding bill, bus contractors call off strike

The two-day flash strike affected around 0.8 million passengers before the bus service resumed from Tuesday morning

The four contractors of Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) called off the strike on Monday night after the public transport utility cleared their ₹66 crore outstanding bill.

The four contractors of PMPML called off the strike on Monday night after the public transport utility cleared their ₹66 crore outstanding bill. (HT FILE PHOTO)

The two-day flash strike affected around 0.8 million passengers before the bus service resumed from Tuesday morning.

The public transport bus service was hit after private contractors — Olectra, Travel Time, Anthony and Hansa — launched the strike from Sunday afternoon with around 907 buses off the roads. On Monday, Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporations gave ₹90 crore to the PMPML administration, including Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) ₹54 crore and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation’s (PCMC) ₹36 crore. PMPML will give ₹24 crore to Maharashtra Natural Gas Limited (MNGL). The contractors’ bills for four months from November to February were overdue.

Elected MLA Ravindra Dhangekar, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) city president Jagdish Mulik, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) city president Prashant Jagtap and several other political leaders met PMP President Om Prakash Bakoria on Monday to discuss the restoration of bus services.

“Bus service by private contractors resumed from Tuesday morning after the dues were cleared,” Bakoria, chairman and managing director, PMPML.