Kolhapur: MSRTC union blames salary delays as 24th staffer ends life since pandemic

KOLHAPUR: A 42-year-old assistant mechanic with the Pandharpur depot of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) in Solapur district committed suicide on Wednesday morning, making him the 24th staffer of the state transport utility to have taken his life since the pandemic began.

Dashrath Gidde’s death comes just a day after a driver from the Beed depot ended his life.

Ashok Changan, divisional secretary of the Maharashtra ST Workers Congress, claimed that the Beed driver did not have money to pay his monthly electricity bills, which resulted in power being cut at his residence.

“The delay in getting salaries has become routine during the pandemic. It has hit the MSRTC employees hard. We received salaries for July in September, which impacted our financial situation and invited penalty and action in many cases,” he said.

Gidde, working at the Pandharpur depot for the last three years, hailed from Mohol town of Solapur district. Pandharpur city police, who have registered the case of accidental death, said the reason behind Gidde ending his life could not be ascertained.

“We didn’t find any suicide note, hence the actual reason of suicide is still not clear. The family members claim that they are going through a tough financial situation. We found the family to be in a poor financial condition. There might be some other family issues too, which we are probing,” inspector Arun Pawar of the Pandharpur police said.

MSRTC depot manager at Pandharpur S F Sutar said Gidde was a good person. “He never revealed any details of his present situation. We will help his family in all possible ways,” he said.

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Experts have underlined the need for counselling the workforce to prevent any more suicides. Consulting psychiatrist Dr Manik Bhise said financial stress often acts as a trigger for suicide. “Counselling can help many vulnerable individuals in developing a proper frame of mind. Avoiding all forms of addiction and maintaining active participation in family and social life can also prove to be of great help,” he said.

The MSRTC, which has a fleet of over 18,000 buses that ferried around 67 lakh citizens daily prior to the Covid outbreak, has a workforce of around 93,000 across the state.

(With inputs from Aurangabad)