MSRTC employees not paid for July

Nearly 1 lakh staff is unpaid as corporation’s daily earning has come down from Rs 20 cr to Rs 7 cr after the pandemic
Almost half of August is past, but around one lakh employees of Maharashtra Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) have not been paid their salary for the month of July.
MSRTC, also known as the lifeline of the state as far as travel is concerned, is now struggling to pay the salaries of its employees.
“Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of daily passengers has gone down along with the fare collection,” said an officer, adding that before the pandemic the daily fare collection was more than Rs 20 crore which has now gone down to Rs 7 crore to Rs 8 crores a day, which is barely enough to buy diesel for the vehicles.
of now, more than 10,000 buses are being run by the corporation which needs, on average, daily around 8 lakh litres of diesel.
Shrirang Barge, general secretary of Maharashtra ST Karmachari Congress, said, “Half the month is over, but we are still waiting for our salary.”
He said the MSRTC employees have been facing problems in receiving their salaries for the past few months. Sushila Chavan. wife of a bus conductor at Kalyan depot of Thane district said that they are struggling with day-to-day expenses because her husband is not getting his salary on time.
Sushila was a homemaker, but she has now started working in a shop.
“We will have to run the house. If my husband is not getting his salary on time, I should contribute to our family income,” said Sushila, adding that her husband’s salary was delayed last month as well.
The story is similar for all the families of MSRTC employees.
The monthly salary bill of MSRTC employees runs into Rs 280 crore.
However, the corporation is trying hard to reduce the cost and increase the revenue. It has started transportation of goods services. The situation, however, remains the same.