Third round of talks between BEST mgt and union

Mumbai, Apr 22: The third round of talks between Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport management and the union leaders will be held later in the day resolve the deadlock which is affecting nearly 45 lakh commuters as buses remained off roads for the second-day today.

More than 42,000 BEST employees had gone on an indefinite strike since Thursday midnight, forcing the daily commuters to travel by private buses, rickshaws and cabs for which they have to shell out more money.

The employees went on strike overlooking an order from an industrial court here, restraining BEST Kamgar Karmachari Sangathan from resorting to strike and and the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), 2005 invoked by the State Government on April 20.

BEST union leader Sharad Rao had said they have gone on strike as in the pay revision, the dearness allowance (DA) has been freezed from this month, following which some of the employees will have to suffer losses between Rs 600 and Rs 1,800 per month.

BEST has also stopped the interim relief for the employees from this month, he added.

UNI

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