School buses, taxis, trucks to go on strike in Maharashtra | Explained in 5 points

Commercial vehicles, including buses on school duty, cabs and trucks, will go on a strike from midnight on Thursday across Maharashtra. The indefinite strike, which is mainly over pending e-challans, is likely to hit Mumbai and Pune worst. The transport unions have eight points of grievance and threatened to block key transport routes with their vehicles.

The transport unions' talks with transport commissioner Rajesh Narvekar on Wednesday evening failed, according to a report in The Times of India.

The Maharashtra Transport Action Committee (M-TAC) said that it would go ahead with the strike. The Maharashtra government has so requested the unions to defer the strike, seeking more time to resolve the issues.

1. WHO ALL WILL BE PART OF THE MAHARASHTRA TRANSPORT STRIKE

The strike in Maharashtra, which organisers have labelled "chakka jam", is against the pending e-challans, which participants say are difficult and costly to challenge, will see drivers from across the state joining the protest.

According to a report by the news agency, PTI, the M-TAC has claimed that the issue affects "around 1.5 million transport operators in Maharashtra, as well as lakhs of private vehicle owners, involving penalties amounting to nearly Rs 4,500 crore".

The participants in the strike will involve a large section of the transport sector in Maharashtra, including drivers operating school buses, private buses, commercial vehicles, including trucks, tempos, taxis, tankers, employee transport buses, tourist cabs, and app-based cabs.

2. FROM WHEN WILL THE STRIKE START, WHEN WILL IT END?

The transport strike in Maharashtra that is being led by the M-TAC is an indefinite statewide strike.

The strike will begin at midnight on March 5, 2026 on Thursday after negotiations between transport commissioner Rajesh Narveka, and M-TAC representatives on Wednesday failed to bring about a breakthrough.

This was confirmed by Baba Shinde, a transporters’ leader from Pune, who told PTI that, "Since the state government is not treating the matter seriously, a state-level agitation will be held across Maharashtra from Thursday."

Prior to the commencement of strikes at midnight, transporters started staging protests at the Azad Maidan grounds in Mumbai as well as outside Regional Transport Offices (RTO) across Maharashtra. According to Shinde, speaking to PTI, "In Mumbai, the demonstration will take place at Azad Maidan at 11 AM", adding that "protests will also be staged outside the Regional Transport Office (RTO) premises in every district."

3. WHAT ARE THE DEMANDS FOR THE MAHARASHTRA STRIKE?

According to the PTI report, transporters have raised several demands for this strike, which include:-

1. Changes in the e-challan system and wavering of pending challans.

2. Decline in taxes and toll charges on commercial vehicles.

3. Withdrawal of the rule to clear the e-challan in 45 days.

4. Closure of highway check posts and the establishment of rest houses or centers for drivers.

5. Evaluation of modifying devices such as panic buttons, vehicle location tracking devices, high-security registration plates, fire detection and suppression systems, and CCTV cameras, because these things increase their operational cost.

6. Demand for suspending ‘no entry’ rules in cities for certain vehicles.

4. WHICH MAHARASHTRA CITIES ARE LIKELY TO BE HIT THE MOST?

If the Maharashtra strike sees massive participation, then it may affect the schedule and commute of daily travellers, especially those reliant on public transport like autos and buses, and will also disrupt the transport services across several cities.

In major cities like Mumbai and Pune, goods transport could be affected if large numbers of truckers take their vehicles off the roads due to the strike. Likewise, connectivity could also be affected if buses, rickshaws and taxis also stay off the road.

Furthermore, the participation of the School Bus Owners Association in the protest could create a problem for students during the ongoing secondary and higher secondary board exams currently being conducted by Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education.

That being said, Anil Garg, the leader of the School Bus Owners Association, had said on Wednesday that if the strike happens, school buses across the state would continue to ply on Thursday, but would cease operations on Friday, if the indefinite strike does not end, reported PTI.

5. TRANSPORT STRIKE: WHAT IS THE E-CHALLAN SYSTEM?

The e-challan system is a digital or electronic traffic fine issued for traffic violations captured on CCTV, speed guns, or police handheld devices.

They are used by the police to issue fines for traffic rules violations, including over speeding, jumping a red light, no helmet, illegal parking, drink-driving, not having valid documentation, and also triple riding, among others.

Information on the violating vehicles is acquired from the Vahaan and Sarathi databases, which contain information on the vehicles and driver, respectively. Based on the information, the automated electronic ticket, e-challan, is created with the details of vehicle number, location, time, date, and evidence of the violation.

Vehicle owners then receive a message detailing their violations and the penalties they have to pay via SMS and E-mail rather than issuing a paper challan. This allows faster, transparent, and contactless payment of penalties without any scams or fraud.

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(With inputs from Hitanshi Kothari)