The Mumbai High Court (HC) said on Monday that it hopes that the employees of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Company (MSRTC), which is still on strike, can consider the inconvenience caused to 1.2 million students in rural areas, and a three-person committee appointed by the court It seems to resume work afterwards. Solve the major issues raised by them.

Since October 27th, 96,000 employees of the MSRTC in Maharashtra have been on strike, seeking to merge the funding-shortaged institutions with the state government-the state’s Minister of Transportation Anil Parab said that this requires consideration and time. After the state filed a request to the court for employees to end the strike, HC instructed the state on November 8 to set up a committee to investigate the dissatisfaction of employees.

HC was informed on Monday that although the committee has managed to resolve the issues of accounts payable and dues, it has not yet considered the issue of mergers. The committee stated that it hopes to reach an amicable settlement within the three-month period set by the court.
Judges Prasanna Varale and SM Modak are hearing writ petitions and contempt requests filed by MSRTC, as well as temporary applications submitted by employees.

S C Naidu, a lawyer representing the country, stated that employees’ salaries have been increased according to their employment in the company and the dues have been paid up to November. A few weeks ago, the government announced that it would raise wages by 41% and raise the basic salary of all employees. However, thousands of employees are still struggling with the merger issue, and they hope that this will be a permanent solution to the problem of payment delays and provide greater job security.

In response to the court’s inquiry about whether employees have resumed work, SU Kamdar, the defender representing MSRTC, stated that only 3,000 employees have resumed work, and in 13,000 rounds per day (between the starting point and the destination), the company can only complete 2,500 pieces. As a result, commuters, especially from rural areas, are suffering and being deceived by private service providers.

Gunaratan Sadavarte, an advocate on behalf of employees, said: “We look forward to the committee’s commitment to when it will hear our request to merge MSRTC employees with state government employees.”

He added that the problem of employee suicides due to unpaid wages before the strike also needs to be resolved. The current number is 54. He said that the court also needs to ensure the welfare of employees.

After hearing the opinion, the court stated that according to news reports, students suffered from lack of the cheapest means of transportation, and asked Sadawat whether he understood the suffering of the student community. The bench added that this issue needs more debate and will post the hearing until December 22.

Complete News Source : Hindustan Times