MSRTC staff go on flash strike, no state buses for Mumbai-Pune commuters

The indefinite agitation has hit the other inter-city routes across Maharashtra as well.

People who were hoping to travel by buses run by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) will have to come up with an alternative plan, as employees of the state-owned undertaking went on an indefinite flash strike on midnight Friday in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra.

ST buses lined up at the Mumbai Central depot, after workers went on a flash strike on Friday. (Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

The strike has hit the in-demand Mumbai-Pune service, as well as other inter-city routes across the state. “Our bus operations in Mumbai, Konkan and western Maharashtra are affected badly,” said an MSRTC official on Friday, requesting anonymity.

Earlier last year too, MSRTC employees had gone on a flash strike during Diwali. It lasted four days, causing immense problems for lakhs of commuters who wanted to travel to their home towns for the festival.

MSRTC staff are protesting the corporation’s unilateral implementation of the wage revision, which came into effect on June 1. The corporation has approved a wage revision worth Rs4,500 crore. However, MSRTC labour unions, including the recognised Maharashtra State ST Kamagar Sanghatana, have opposed the revision, claiming that employees are not getting a sufficient hike.

It is the largest public transport body in the country, with around 18,000 buses and 1.02 lakh employees. Every day, its buses ferry more than 60 lakh passengers on intra-city and inter-city routes. It also provides bus services in Vasai-Virar, Nalasopara, Nashik and others cities and towns in Maharashtra.