Nagpur: The Buses of State Road Transport Corporation commonly called as ST play a vital role in ferrying people from the nearby villages and moffusil areas of Nagpur to the city and similarly taking people to their native villages. The State Road Transport Corporation operates buses all over Maharashtra State.
While speaking to Nagpur Today, the irate ST Bus drivers and conductors said that they have been brought under essential services but are not treated accordingly nor are they given salary that commensurate their hard work.
According to the Drivers, an agreement was made in the year 2012 and was supposed by be implemented from 2012 to 2016. However, the hike in salary has never been implemented. The striking employees of State Road Transport Corporation said that they want a hike of 25% in their basic salary. They also demanded that the Junior Grade Position should be scrapped since the employees get very less salary in this grade.
Some of the agitating Drivers and Conductors claimed that the employees of State Road Transport Corporation are getting the lowest salary compared to their counterparts in other states.
They claimed that the starting salary of a driver is only Rs 8000/- while drivers of other government sectors get Rs 25,000/-. The new recruits have to be on probation for a period of three years and later on completion of their probation, they get an increment of Rs 300/-.
While the Festive allowances are same as that of the other state government employees, the basic salary is way lower than others. According to some drivers who spoke in a very animated manner to Nagpur Today said that while MSEB too is a Corporation their salaries are way higher than MSRTC. They said that drivers and conductors of MSRTC from all over Maharashtra are on strike till their demands are met. They added that they work in terrible tension and stress. So much so that 4 drivers of ST had committed suicide.
When they reach a place late in the night, they do not even get a decent place where they can rest since there are no rest rooms in most ST Depots. Many depots do not even have toilets and if toilets are there is no water.
When the bus drivers and conductors take buses to the villages, there is no place for them to take rest. A letter should be sent to Gram Panchayats so that they make arrangements for their stay in the villages.
One major thing that they shared was that the passengers or commuters travelling in the night are charged late night charges. However, the same is not passed on to the drivers or conductors.
They also complained that even after complaining to the supervisors and other officials, they force them to travel or take defective buses with passengers. These often result in tyres getting punctured, steering wheel getting jammed, no stepneys etc. These in turn also cause accidents.
