Maha Transport Strike: Commuters, staff urges govt. to take action

Mumbai (Maharashtra) : Commuters on Monday complained to the state government for the inconvenience caused by the indefinite strike of the staffs of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC).

Employees of the MSRTC had begun an indefinite strike on the midnight of Monday to pressurise the government to implement 7th pay commission in the state transport. Though the police have increased security to prevent any untoward incident, passengers are feeling harassed by the strike.

"I am waiting for the bus since 7 am today, but all the transport offices are locked and no one is available to respond to our queries," a commuter named Shweta said.

More than 17 thousand government buses run across Maharashtra, where about one lakh workers have gone on strike.

Shweta, who booked her seat online, added, "We were told that the amount of the booking will be refunded to our bank account, after depositing the printed receipt of the payment. However, the date of the refund has not been mentioned and a lot of inconveniences has been caused otherwise as well".

Shweta,on this note, urged the government to help the commuters.

A student, who was waiting for the bus since 6 am, said, " I waited for a while and then tried to contact private transport, who usually charge maximum 250 rupees for a day. However, they have increased their fares to Rs 1000 following the strike, which we can't afford as students".

Another commuter, returning from election duty, travelled in a private transport half of the way. Unable to reach Sholapur, he complained to the government for the inconvenience caused during the festival season and urged to take an immediate decision.

Meanwhile, Dileep, a member of a staff union said that he, along with other unions, called the strike after the government did not pay any attention to their demands.

"Ours, along with other transport unions want 7th pay commission to be implemented in the MSRTC. We were also in conversation with the government but they paid no heed to our problems. Therefore, we have now called an indefinite strike," he said.