Targeting the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government for its failure to handle the protracted strike of transport staffers, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray said that the State Government should not behave in an arrogant manner towards the employees of the cash-strapped Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC).
The MSRTC workers’ strike, which intensified throughout November, has been dragging on for over 40 days now, paralysing commute in the State’s rural hinterland.
Targeting State Transport Minister Anil Parab over his ‘ultimatum’ to the MSRTC staffers to resume duties, Mr. Thackeray, speaking in Nashik on Monday, said that the people had not voted for the MVA for them to “behave in an arrogant and insensitive fashion.”
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“The government needs to look seriously into this matter…All MSRTC employees have come together to urge the government to fulfil their long-pending demands…these employees have not been paid regularly. The Government must understand their problems as their very lives are at stake…instead, the Government is behaving in a high-handed fashion,” said Mr. Thackeray, adding that he would write to his cousin, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in this regard.
The MNS chief said that the MSRTC was something to be admired and not privatised.
“Unless the corruption within the MSRTC is stopped, the employees will continue to suffer…the government ought to appoint a firm to manage the company better rather than privatise it,” he said.
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10,000 suspended
So far, the MSRTC has suspended more than 10,000 workers and terminated the services of more than 2,000 staffers for participating in the strike. Most of the 250 bus depots of the MSRTC have remained shut for the better part of November as the strike gathered momentum.
Since then, some buses have resumed operation and a number of employees have reported for duty. However, a majority of the MSRTC staffers have not budged from their strike.