Hyderabad: Following a failed meeting between TGSRTC and the Commissioner of Labour Department on Monday, April 13, in Hyderabad, the Telangana Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) Joint Action Committee (JAC) has announced a statewide indefinite strike from April 22.
“The first bus, which is supposed to leave after midnight on the intervening night of April 21 and 22 will not leave the depot if our demands are not met,” Suddala Suresh, leader of the TGSRTC Bahujan Workers Union, told Siasat.com.
He said neither the RTC management nor any concerned political representative attended the meeting at the Commissioner of Labour’s office for the third consecutive time.
The JAC has put forward 32 of their demands, including the merger of TGSRTC with the state government, implementation of the 2021 and 2025 pay revision with fitment, recognition and conduct of elections to RTC workers’ union, and the payment of various arrears.
One of the major demands was the privatisation of the corporation. The government plans to introduce private Electric Vehicles (EVs) in the Greater Hyderabad Zone and transfer RTC buses to districts.
The corporation also wants the government to pay Rs 350 crore per month to compensate for the free bus rides for women under the Mahalakshmi scheme.
In October 2019, during the festive season, RTC workers had waged the longest strike in the history of Telangana, by shutting down operations for more than 52 days during the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government. More than 50 RTC workers died in that agitation.
The then chief minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao, had warned the agitating RTC workers that if they failed to resume their duties, they would be deemed to be dismissed by themselves.
