Bhiwandi: Buses parked at the stand in Bhiwandi ST Depot are gathering dust due to the strike of ST Mahamandal workers. The daily earning of Bhiwandi ST depot is about 8 lakhs due to the strike. The ST depot has suffered a loss of about Rs 3 crore due to the strike so far. Due to the absence of the striking employees, the salary has also been withheld by the corporation, which has left the employees hungry for food.
It is worth noting that the employees, drivers, conductors, etc. have gone on strike for the pending demands including the demand for merger of ST Mahamandal. Due to the tussle between the government and the ST employees, there is no sign of the strike breaking even after 34 days. Due to the strike of the buses, the passengers are facing a lot of difficulty for the movement.
read also
ST buses gathering dust
Due to the strike, about 80 buses parked at Bhiwandi ST depot are gathering dust. The ST depot has suffered a loss of about 3 crores due to the strike. Even after persuading the officers, the employees are not ready to return to work. The wages of the striking workers have been deducted. Due to non-payment of salary, the employees have had to eat food, but the employees are not ready to bow down. A mechanic working in the depot said that heavy maintenance would be required to bring back the buses which have been standing for 34 days, which will cost lakhs of rupees.
The problems being faced by the passengers due to the strike
About 80 buses of ST Mahamandal are closed due to strike. 362 workers have gone on strike. About 80 buses from Bhiwandi depot used to go to remote areas like Kalyan, Thane, Vasai, Virar, Nashik etc. which are completely closed and parked in the depot. Due to the closure of buses, auto rickshaw drivers are charging exorbitant fares from passengers. Passengers are facing the compulsion to pay the fare that they asked for.
Mahamandal’s broken economic back due to strike
An official of ST Mahamandal said on the condition of anonymity that the Bhiwandi ST depot has suffered a loss of about Rs 3 crore due to the striking employees. The Mahamandal is already at a huge loss. First the economic backbone of the Mahamandal has been broken due to heavy losses due to the Corona epidemic and now the strike. According to the depot officer, the government should consider the demand of merger of ST employees with the government. The salary of state employees is about 40 percent more than that of ST Mahamandal employees. Due to the very low salary of ST employees, the employees also suffer in living. After 8 hours of duty, the conductor and driver get only 15-20 thousand rupees, which is very less according to the inflation. Due to the low salary of ST workers, it is also difficult to run the house. There is no pension facility for the employees. Pension is available only from the EPF 95 scheme, which is available only about 3 thousand rupees after retirement.
Nearly 20,000 workers returned to work
It is worth noting that more than 80 thousand employees of ST Mahamandal had gone on strike in the entire state, in which about 20 thousand employees have returned to work. The government has asked the ST Mahamandal employees to return to work, otherwise it has warned of imposing mesma.