The services of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) got disrupted as the employees launched a strike on Tuesday. The employees are on strike as most of their demands, mainly related to salary and other service conditions were not accepted by the authorities and the state government.
The strike was launched ahead of the Ganesh festival posing serious problems for commuters returning to their respective homes for the festival. The action committee of 11 trade unions launched the strike from midnight separating Monday and Tuesday, bringing bus services to a grinding halt in 35 out of the 250 bus depots of MSRTC. The buses from the remaining depots are partially of fully operative.
The action committee has been demanding salaries at par with the government employees. The bus services in the Mumbai division were not affected but were partially affected in the neighbouring Thane division’s Kalyan and Vitthalwadi depots. The bus services were partially affected in Vidarbha region. Several depots in the Nashik and Pune districts have been completely shut down.
MSRTC had earlier planned to operate 5,000 extra buses, especially in the Konkan region for the Ganesh festival from September 3 to 7.