The high court on Monday said it would pass appropriate orders on Tuesday on the BEST bus strike if the union and state authorities failed to end the deadlock.
BEST
Strike : In an unfavourable development for Mumbai's nearly
25-lakh daily bus commuters, the deadlock between BEST workers' union
and the Maharashtra government entered eighth day on Tuesday, with
both sides failing to reach an agreement before the Bombay High Court
to end the stir.
The
high court on Monday said it would pass appropriate orders on Tuesday
on the BEST bus strike if the union and state authorities failed to
end the deadlock, adding that "things cannot continue as they
are". (Busniess
Standard)
The
high court bench also directed the high power committee, constituted
by the Maharashtra government last week to negotiate with the
striking union, to submit a report in a sealed cover clarifying its
views on some of the urgent demands of the union.
The
bench has been urging the union, the Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation (BMC), the state government and BEST undertaking to
resolve issues in a "congenial environment" and ensure
minimum inconvenience to the public.
The
high court has been hearing, since last week, a PIL filed by lawyer
Datta Mane urging the court to pass interim orders directing BEST
workers to call off the strike immediately.
Over
32,000 employees of the Brihanmumbai
Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) are on strike
since Tuesday last week and 3,700 buses in its fleet are off the
roads.
The
employees are demanding higher salaries, merging budget of the
loss-making BEST with that of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
(BMC), deliberations on new wage agreement, resuming appointments on
compassionate grounds and bonus equivalent to that of the civic body
employees.
On
Monday, the state and the BMC told the bench that while they had
proposed several solutions to resolve the issues being faced by the
BEST workers, the union was still adamant on not withdrawing the
strike.
The
advocate general and the BMC's counsel Anil Sakhre told the bench
Monday that the authorities were ready to look into the grievance
surrounding the pay scale of the junior level employees subject to
the strike being called off.
The
BEST has a fleet of over 3,200-red-colour buses and also operates in
the neighbouring Thane district and Navi Mumbai. It is the
second-biggest mode of transport in Mumbai after local trains, which
ferry over 80-lakh passengers every day.
With
its employees having gone on strike, the cash-strapped BEST is likely
to face a loss of Rs 3 crore per day.
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