MUMBAI: Amid the stand-off between striking MSRTC workers and state government, transport minister Anil Parab said that the MSRTC would file a contempt petition against the transport unions on Wednesday.
On Tuesday evening, the MSRTC suspended 376 employees who participated in the strike and were accused of provoking others to stay off duties.
“The industrial court had declared the strike illegal. Now, the Bombay high court declared it illegal too, and said we can file a contempt petition. We will be filing a contempt petition against those continuing with the strike tomorrow,” he said. MSRTC advocates G S Hegde and Pinky Bhansali have already informed the court that there were several individuals manning MSRTC depots who were “guilty of wilful disobedience” of the orders passed by the HC.
The decision to file contempt petition comes in the wake of 99% MSRTC bus depots — 147 out of 150 — staying completely shut on Tuesday, with bus operations coming almost to a standstill. The only depots which were functioning, although partially, were the two depots in Kolhapur and one at Nashik.
Those suspended from service include 58 workers each from Nanded and Sangli, 57 from Yavatmal and 40 staffers from Wardha. Among the cities, 18 were suspended from Nagpur and 17 staffers were suspended from Nashik. No staffer from Mumbai has been suspended yet.
This inconvenienced over 25 lakh daily commuters who would travel in 12,500 state buses. In Mumbai, the depots at Kurla, Parel and Mumbai Central wore a deserted look.
Parab has now asked workers to call off the strike and said the government was available for a dialogue. However, the decision on their key demand to merge the MSRTC with the state government and to be deemed as state government employees would have to be considered by a state committee set up on Monday.
“The MSRTC has suffered heavy losses to the tune of Rs 12,000 crore in the last two years of the pandemic. These are not decisions which can be taken lightly. There are many government corporations which could make the same demand and the government has to think of this in terms of an overall policy,” said Parab.
He also appealed to the unions not to get provoked into acting against their own interests. “We have already agreed to three of the demands. This remaining issue has to be considered by the committee,” Parab added.
