Hardship for MSRTC workers before strike
MUMBAI: “I have a lot of debt and there are issues with my salary. This is the reason I am ending my life,” the note left behind by Kamalakar Bedse, a 43-year-old driver with Dhule depot of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), read. Bedse, who had worked with the Corporation since 2006, took his life on August 27. Bedse was the sole earning member of his family, which comprised wife of 21 years, Yogita, an 18-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter. The driver had taken a housing loan of Rs 25 lakh from a cooperative society bank affiliated to MSRTC and every month, the bank would deduct an amount as part of his Equated Monthly Instalment (EMI) — he would end up receiving Rs 4000 in hand. However, since June 2020, when his monthly salary of Rs 20,000 stopped being credited to his account, he began to default on EMI payments.
“We had many discussions
MSRTC employees at a protest in Sangli last month.
regarding the loan and our distress because of the delay in receiving the salary and what that did to our payment of EMIS. For the last six months we discussed alternate ways to make money but there was none. We used to reassure each other that something will work out,” Yogita said.
The MSRTC is one of the largest transport corporations in India and is the only affordable service for people residing in rural Maharashtra. Commuters from rural areas, including senior citizens and school-going children have been left without much option in the past two months.
Since October 27, 96,000 employees of MSRTC across Maharashtra have been on strike, seeking a merger of the cash-strapped body with the state government — a move that the state transport minister Anil Parab has said would need consideration and time. The corporation has a loss of Rs 12,000 crore accumulated over the years. With the Covid-19-induced lockdown, the daily operations of the fleet of 18,000 buses slowed to a halt. This led to a delay in the payment of monthly salaries to the employees starting June 2020. The striking employees — most of them drivers and conductors — earn anywhere between Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000.
As the employees went on strike, the corporation took them to court. However, during the proceedings, the MSRTC employee unions, represented by the Maharashtra Rajya Kanishth Vetanshreni ST Karmachari Sanghatana told the Bombay High Court that 37 employees have ended their lives in 2020 and 2021.
“Non-payment of salaries during the lockdown in a timely manner forced 37 staff to end their lives as they could not sustain their families,” advocate Gunaratan Sadavarte told the court.
An MSRTC spokesperson said that the delay in payment of salaries was due to the spread of the pandemic which led to a shutdown of bus services last year. “Due to the spread of coronavirus the bus services were severely impacted and not operated in the entire state. This resulted in the delay in salaries.”
A senior MSRTC official, who did not wish to be quoted, said that 29 employees ended their lives between March 2020 and December 2021, but contended that there were other reasons besides salary delays that led them to take this step.
“The First Information Reports (FIR) of a few of the employees who committed suicide revealed that many were suffering from personal or family issues and some were even involved in gambling where they lost a lot of money. Financial constraints and delay in salaries are not the only reason,” the official said.
“No employee should consider taking such an extreme step,” Shekhar Channe, managing director and vice chairman of MSRTC. He confirmed that families of employees who have ended their lives would either receive compensation or get a job in the corporation.