LOKMAT NEWS NETWORK
Nashik, Nov 24
As many as 500 conductors of Citilinc bus service had called a strike demanding bonus among other things. After two days of suffering, passengers finally got some relief on Thursday, November 23, when the management of Citilinc paid Rs 56,00,000 to the contractor as an advance. The employees on strike resumed work on Friday, November 24. In the past year, there have been many strikes due to disputes between conductors and the contractor. Though the contractor is paying the employees, there is political pressure on the Citilinc management to pay advance to the contractor.
This is becoming a norm now. Therefore, despite the rule that the contractor should first pay the wages to the employees and then submit the bills to Citilinc, the contractor is demanding Rs 1.26 crore from the administration. However, in order to avoid inconvenience to the passengers, the Nashik Metropolitan Transport Corporation decided to pay the amount to the contractor. Accordingly, the Rs 56 lakh was paid as pending salary for the month of October on Thursday. Dues have been credited to the conductors’ bank accounts and now buses have resumed the service and buses have also started for the Shiv Mahapuran Katha programme.
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The strike has caused a loss of Rs 32 lakh in two days to the Citilinc. However, as per the agreement between Citilinc and the contractor, the penal action is capped at Rs 15,00,000. Due to this, there is a problem that Citilinc cannot get compensation from the contractor due to a large amount of damage.
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Rs 56,00,000 has been given to the conductor-providing contractor firm. After that, some buses left the depot and reached their destination on Thursday night.
- Milind Bund, General Manager, Citilinc.