About 48,000 Telangana RTC employees resume duties after 52-days strike

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Around 48,000 workers of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) resume their duties on Friday after calling off 52 days strike. Several TSRTC employees expressed happiness over resuming their duties. Telangana Chief Minister welcomed back TSRTC employees who have joined their duties on Friday. On Thursday, after a Cabinet meeting, he said, "All of you can resume duties happily tomorrow."

He will hold a meeting with Road Transport Corporation (RTC) workers from all the 97 depots in the state on December 1 at Pragathi Bhavan.

TSRTC worker Ayyub Khan told ANI, "It was a 52-day long strike. We struggled a lot for our demands to get fulfilled. Our jobs were at stake. But now we are happy that we have got our jobs back."

"I travel from RTC buses regularly. It has been nearly two months that buses were not available. It was very difficult for us to use an alternative. We are happy that the busses are available now," Gadadhar, a local said.

Member of Legislative Council Ramchander Rao said that that the RTC employees have joined their duties but the state government was not prepared in any way to take their employees back.

Hitting out at KCR, the MLC said, "Chief Minister of Telangana had announced that RTC employees can get back to their jobs. It is a healthy sign, we welcome that move. However, the loss cannot be paid or compensated to their families in any way. The government is responsible for the loss of 30 employees who committed suicide or died due to heart attacks. The RTC workers' problems should be resolved and proper compensation should be given."

Senior Congress leader V Hanumanth Rao also targetted the government and said that it has allowed employees to join duties but now no worker unions only two members in each depot will be authorised to mediate, which is not correct. "It is mentioned in the labour law that workers have the right to form unions," he said.

Nearly 48,000 TSRTC employees staged a protest on October 5, demanding equivalent benefits to other state government employees provided by a merger of TSRTC with the government. About 30 employees of the corporation died during the 52-days long strike, led by a Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the TSRTC employee unions.

(With inputs from ANI)

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