Nagpur: For the second consecutive day, Nagpurians continued to face trouble owing to ongoing strike by drivers and conductors of Aapli Bus service of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). Despite the operator Chalo Mobility Services Pvt Ltd getting ad-interim relief from the Industrial Court, the ground situation remained grim.
The contractual workers affiliated to three unions, CITU, BMS, and a third of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, continued to stay off the work till their demands were accepted. All eyes are now fixed on lawyers of respective parties as the Court has directed them to sit together and resolve the issue that has put commuters in the dock. The strike on part of the contractual workers comes at a time when festivities have picked up with the start of Navratri.
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Saturday 05 Oct. 2024
Additional exams are on at schools and colleges as they are conducted before Diwali vacation and hence the non-functioning of city buses is putting the regular travellers in a tight spot. Overall, it seems city buses were plying only on Wardha Road but that too in limited numbers. Mostly, electric buses were plying on city roads while regular diesel and CNG buses of NMC’s fleet were partially off the road.
Arun Piprude, Labour Officer, Transport Department, NMC, claimed that nearly 30 percent of city buses started from various depots. NMC has about 300 various types of buses. This happened as some of the contractual workers reported for work on appeal made by NMC post ad-interim order of the Industrial Court. However, Piprude claimed that despite directions from Court, the striking workers stopped the buses midway and forced them to return to their bases.
The workers on duty were doled out threats and were told to cease work and join the strike. This action on part of striking workers is totally illegal as the Industrial Court had clearly told the former not to interfere in case some workers report for duties. Piprude said no negotiations have started as yet and it is expected that legal brains of contesting parties will sit together and submit their report to the Court. In case no agreement is reached, the Industrial Court will then pronounce its order.
