Maharashtra: Five dead after private taxi ferrying passengers from MSRTC depot turns turtle at Akkalkot

MSRTC employees protest at Azad Maidan on Tuesday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Of its workforce of 92,000 employees, 7,623 MSRTC staffers resumed work on Tuesday, allowing the transporter to run 56 bus trips till 4 pm. But passengers remained badly hit as an accident by a private taxi that had picked passengers from an MSRTC bus stand led to five deaths in rural Akkalkot.

The accident took place around 10.30 am near Kumbharli village on the Akkalkot-Solapur highway, over 250 km from Pune. Preliminary investigations revealed that its front right side tyre burst and the vehicle turned turtle.

"This is what happens when one of the biggest public transporters opens its bus stands to private operators. The MSRTC is playing with the lives of passengers by doing such things," an angry employee said. Scores of employees continued to stay put at Azad Maidan, with food and water provided by NGOs.

The MSRTC employees went on an indefinite strike from October 28 over their demand for the merger of the corporation with the state government. They intensified the agitation after the Diwali festival.

92,000
No. of staff in MSRTC