Future Of 48000 Telangana RTC Employees Remains Dark As CM KCR's Nov 5 Deadline Ends

Not responding to the warnings issued by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of protesting employee unions of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) continued their strike.

Rao had earlier issued an ultimatum and said that those employees who did not return to work by midnight on November 5, would be considered ‘self-dismissed’. However, only 200-odd staff reported back to work, out of the total number of 48,000 striking workers.

The JAC organised a meeting on Tuesday with political parties and people’s organisations to formulate their plans. The meeting was attended by M Kodandaram from the Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), MRPS leader Manda Krishna Madiga, and Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao, among others.

The meeting was held at Maqdoom Bhavan, the state headquarters of the Communist Party of India (CPI).

Ashwathama Reddy, who has been leading the JAC, asked Rao to initiate talks with the protesting workers, instead of threatening to privatise bus routes.

The cabinet on Saturday decided to give permits to private operators to run buses on 5,100 routes. Arguing that the privatisation of the corporation was not under the State government, Reddy said the Centre has a 31 per cent stake in the RTC while the State had 69 per cent as per the Road Transport Act, 1950. The Act stipulates that the Centre and State would have to take a joint decision for any changes to be made to the RTC.

In a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office on Monday, the government stated that employees were given a ‘good opportunity’ to resume duties, and it was up to them to protect their jobs or put their families to hardships. “If the employees didn’t join the duties before the deadline, private buses would be given permits on the remaining 5,000 routes and then there would be no entity called RTC in the state,” the government said.

Over 48,000 RTC employees are on strike since October 5 with 26 demands, including the RTC’s merger with the government.

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