Nagpur: Thousands of commuters in Nagpur faced severe inconvenience on Wednesday as nearly 800 contractual workers of Aapli Bus, operated by five different companies, staged a flash strike over the non-implementation of revised wages as mandated by the Maharashtra Government’s October 2024 Government Resolution (GR).
The unexpected strike brought city bus services to a grinding halt, leaving passengers stranded in the sweltering summer heat. With no prior intimation about the strike, regular commuters, including office-goers, students, and senior citizens, were caught off guard. Many were forced to rely on alternative transport options, only to find auto-rickshaw fares skyrocketing due to the sudden demand.
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Friday 28 March 2025
The root of the crisis lies in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) failure to ensure compliance with the revised wage structure. The protesting workers, comprising drivers, conductors, maintenance staff, and controllers, refused to operate buses, leading to a complete shutdown of the service. While the revised wages were credited to the accounts of drivers and conductors by evening, nearly 150 maintenance staff and controllers were left out, raising concerns that the strike might continue on Thursday.
The unrest had been brewing for over two months, with three unions — affiliated with Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) —repeatedly warning NMC of an impending strike. Despite these notices, no proactive measures were taken, exacerbating the crisis.
As NMC struggled to resolve the issue, commuters remain anxious about further disruptions. With public transport being a lifeline for thousands, authorities now face mounting pressure to negotiate with the agitating workers and prevent further chaos on Nagpur’s streets.
The problem is that though an accord on wage revision was notified by State Government on October last, NMC administration miserably failed to implement the same in its letter and spirit. The five operator companies continue to stall the implementation of wages that hiked the minimum wages payable to drivers and conducts working with five operator companies. Though officials from Transport Department of NMC promised to compensate the operator companies for any additional outgo owing to additional financial burden, the employees did not get revised wages.
Rakesh Bhosekar, President, Transport and General Kamgar Union, Nagpur city unit, and affiliated to Vanchit Bahujan Agahadi, speaking to local media, said that they had served strike notice for February 15, 2025, on February 1 itself. Thereafter, another notice was issued to the administrator on March 12 stating that if the revised wages as agreed upon were not issued then the workers would resort to strike work on March 18.
Following the notice, the Additional Labour Commissioner called a meeting of NMC officials, representatives of five operators companies and also the three workers unions. Despite 10 to 12 rounds of talks, the operator companies were not agreeing to revise the salaries as per October 2024 GR of Urban Development Department (UDD). Left with no choice, the leaders of three workers unions on Tuesday night itself held a meeting and informed NMC administration that they would strike work on Wednesday.
Since morning no bus moved out of depots leaving thousands of commuters in the lurch. The introduction of e-buses has helped NMC to regain customers to pre-COVID19 levels and hence non-availability of public transport has put people in great trouble. Also the last mile and first mile connectivity with Nagpur Metro also suffered due to workers strike on Wednesday.
NMC officials also said the issue is now settled as city bus service would resume operations from Thursday morning. During the month of October 2024, the workers of Aapli Bus resorted to one of the long strikes that crippled city bus operations. The city buses remained off road for more than a week as NMC scrambled to find the answers. The workers were seeking a hike in wages which they claimed has remained static since the last 15- years. Finally, UDD issued a notification on October 14, 2024, notifying increase in wages for workers of buses operated by the civic body. Since then the workers were seeking the hike but for the last five months neither the NMC nor the five operator companies took any steps to implement the GR resulting in a flash strike on Wednesday.
