Hyderabad: The talks between the state government and the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) union leaders have failed without any conclusion, only leading to the workers going on an indefinite strike starting from 12 am on April 22.
The discussions which began in the evening went till late in the evening between the high-level committee of bureaucrats and workers derailed, after the RTC JAC leaders refused to wait for another four weeks for the committee to submit its report.
Call it a snub, or the order of things, the RTC union leaders who expected a minister or someone higher to attend the meeting, were taken by shock when they saw no political representatives in the talks.
RTC JAC chairperson E Venkanna said that the state government was given a notice for an indefinite strike a year ago, but after holding talks with Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, and his assurances, they decided to wait till now.
He said that all the issues discussed with the high-level committee were previously discussed with the state government, alleging that it was only an attempt to delay things to put them in cold storage.
Venkanna said that all 32 demands were already discussed for the past 5 years, for which successive governments assured resolution to the issues.
“The merger of TGSRTC with the state government can be done by having an appointed date on the first day of next month. The entire process can be completed before that. The PRC, elections to the RTC recognised unions, and several issues can be done very easily, and were part of their manifesto,” Venkanna said.
Suddala Suresh, one of the union leaders appealed to all the bus drivers, conductors, technicians and all the RTC staff to not attend their duty at any cost, and said, “Aakhri dhakka, Vijayam pakka.”
Kathula Yadaiah called the Committee a ‘time-pass committee,’ and said that not a single demand of the workers were resolved.
