The city’s public transit grid faced severe disruptions on Wednesday morning as 450 municipal buses remained off the road during the first operational shift in the aftermath of flash strike by transit workers. Taking a strict stance against the service interruption in public transport, Mangala Khekare, Chairperson, Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) Transport Committee, said that the administration is currently analysing the exact financial losses suffered by the civic body. She asserted that the calculated losses would be recovered by imposing heavy financial penalties directly on the concerned private bus operators responsible for managing the fleet. The statement by the Transport Committee Chairperson came during the media interaction later in evening at NMC headquarters. The strike left thousands of daily commuters, particularly office-goers and students, stranded across various parts of the city during peak morning hours.

 

The Aapli Bus service, which forms the backbone of city’s mass urban transport system, saw multiple routes completely paralysed as drivers and conductors refrained from reporting to duty. Chairperson Khekare, along with Mayor Neeta Thakre, senior officials from the NMC Transport Department including Transport Manager Milind Meshram and Administrative Officer Yogesh Lunge, evaluated the operational breakdown. The panel noted that the private operators failed to maintain mandatory emergency operations, which violated the terms of their concession agreements with the municipal body. Moving forward, the Transport Committee has directed the accounts and operational teams to audit the exact deficit in ridership and ticket revenue caused by the grounded fleet on Wednesday. The legal cell has also been instructed to draft formal show-cause notices to the operators.

 

Chairperson Khekare reiterated that the civic administration will not tolerate arbitrary suspensions of essential public services, and strict contractual clauses, including blacklisting warnings and structural revenue deductions, will be enforced to prevent future transit strikes from disrupting the city’s commuters. Khekare also clarified that due to weekend and error the salary bill of the workers got delayed. While seeking apology, she assured the transit workers that this would not happen again and from the following months the salaries would be disbursed before 10th of every month. Transport Committee formally approved several key demands raised by the striking transit workers to ensure immediate resumption of services.

 

Chairperson Khekare announced that the administration has officially agreed to revise the daily wage structure and streamline the monthly payment schedule to prevent future disbursement delays. Furthermore, the committee sanctioned the immediate provision of standardised medical insurance coverage for all active drivers and conductors, along with an increase in the HPA to conductor staff; 26 days duty to conductors; to grant paid leaves of 15 days to the staff who had worked a total of 240 days or more; to provide basic amenities at the Mor Bhavan depot. The private operators have been strictly mandated to implement these approved parameters immediately, ensuring better working conditions while safeguarding the city’s public transit network from further sudden disruptions.