SURAT: Employees of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation’s (GSRTC) Surat division removed clothes and tonsured their heads on the second day of the statewide strike here on Friday.More than 2,700 state transport employees in Surat division are on an indefinite strike to press for acceptance of their long-pending demands, including implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission’s recommendations by the state government. Over 3,500 trips from Surat to various destinations in the state and Maharashtra have been suspended, sources said.The atmosphere at the ST’s central bus depot was charged in the afternoon after the fixed wage employees were given termination letters by GSRTC management on Friday. The employees shouted anti-government slogans and accused the management of working to break the indefinite strike.PAAS convener Hardik Patel visited the striking ST employees at central bus station and assured his support to them.ST Karmachari Union general secretary Kaushik Desai told TOI, “The GSRTC management is pressuring the fixed wage employees to return to duty by issuing them termination letters. The management wants to break our union. We are fighting for justice for ST employees and this will continue. Our drivers and conductors are considered class four employees and the ST employees have not been given the benefit of the Seventh Pay Commission yet.”Sources in railway department said rush of passengers travelling in trains to Valsad Navsari and Bharuch was heavy throughout the day.Ganesh Jadhav, commercial inspector at Surat railway station , told TOI, “The ST strike has put extra pressure on Indian Railways . The rush of passengers is heavy on the station as people have no other option. Trains running short distance destinations are almost full.”

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