Aurangabad, Nov 8 (Agency) Employees of 129 bus depots across Maharashtra are now part of the ongoing agitation as the workers demand merger of the MSRTC with state enterprises and monetary benefits at par with other state employees. On Monday, the bus stands wore deserted look with strict police security at all bus depots. The government’s efforts to negotiate with them has failed. The unions have also demanded the pay commission’s benefit as promised in the election manifesto of MVA. The employees of eight bus depots in Aurangabad joined the strike on Sunday.
Employees staged sit in at premises of respective bus depots to press their demands including corporation’s merger into the state government to avoid further deterioration of finances. Commuters across the state faced difficulties, as a total 916 trips were cancelled and the MSRTC incurred losses running into several lakhs, sources said. All employees here, including conductors, drivers from eight depots — Aurangabad 1 (Cidco) and Aurangabad 2 (Main), Paithan, Sillod, Soygaon, Vaijapur, Gangapur, and Kannad are part of the agitation. The strike at the time of Diwali has caused severe hardships to commuters. The MSRTC unions started the agitation last week and announced their decision to go on strike from October 27.