Published On : Tue, Dec 31st, 2019

New Year gift: Aapli Bus drivers, conductors to get Rs 5000 salary hike

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Drivers, conductors will get weekly off, bonus, overtime, and other perks

Nagpur: In a New Year gift, drivers and conductors of Aapli Bus will get salary of Rs 5000. Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has decided to provide salaries of city bus drivers and conductors in accordance with Minimum Wages Act. The move will burden the civic body with Rs 1 crore every month.

According to an agreement negotiated with operators of Aapli Bus service, employees will get salaries as per rules, weekly off, 15 days paid holidays per year, bonus, overtime payment and other perks. This will hike salaries of bus drivers and conductors to the tune of around Rs 5000.

The decision was taken in the Transport Committee meeting held on Monday. The meeting was attended by Deputy Municipal Commissioner and Transport Manager Rajesh Mohite, Labour Officer Arun Piprude, Administrative Officer Ravindra Pagey, Mechanical Engineer Yogesh Lunge, Acccounts Officer Vinay Bhardwaj, Sukir Sontakke; Neelmani Gupta of R K City Bus Services; Parekh of Hansa City Bus; Sadanand Kalkar of Travel Time; Shekhar Admane of Unity Security; Sanjay Kumar Singh of SIS and others.

Chairman of Transport Committee Narendra Borkar told mediapersons that NMC was committed to solving the issues concerning the drivers and conductors of city bus service. Accordingly, some decisions were taken in a meeting called to discuss the demands made by the employees in a memorandum submitted to Borkar after he took charge of the Committee chief. The employees had warned of chain hunger strike from December 30 and also threatened not to issue tickets to the passengers from January 1, 2020. “So far, drivers and conductors were getting work for 26 days in a month. Many employees were working overtime but were still not paid for the same. Now, we have decided that the employees will get salary for 34 days if they do overtime for four days after regular 26 days,” Borkar said.

Borkar further said that in case of action against a staffer, he used to remain suspended for six months. After that he would be allowed to resume his duties after paying penalty following the enquiry. Now, the bus operator will not be empowered to suspend a staffer if any passenger is found travelling without ticket. A committee comprising Suryakant Ambadekar, Chief of DIMTS; Ravindra Page, Administrative Officer; and Arun Piprude, Labour Officer, will be formed to enquiry. The amount of ticket not issued to commuter will be recovered from the conductor concerned within 15 days and he will be allowed to resume his duties, said Borkar.