Protesting employees stop Gutha convoy, hold up traffic at Nirmal

HYDERABAD: The striking Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) employees intensified their strike on the 34th day by stopping convoys, staging rasta rokos and laying siege to ministers’ houses.
They also rolled on the ground with a plea that the government see reason in their demands.
Legislative council chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy on Thursday faced the ire of the employees in Kodad where he had gone to distribute Bathukamma saris to beneficiaries.Police took the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation employees into custody when they tried to lay a siege to the house of energy minister G Jagadish Reddy in Suryapet.
The protestors stopped Sukhender’s convoy. Women employees sat on the road and refused to make way for the convoy. Sukhender got down from his car and spoke to the women, who submitted a representation to him on their demands.
Traffic came to a grinding halt on the highway for more than one hour at Nirmal collectorate when the employees staged a rasto roko. Former chairman of TSRTC Somarapu Satyanarayana, addressing the employees at Godavarikhani, said the government should hold talks and resolve the issue. In Khammam, the employees held a ‘dhoom-dhaam’ programme and did not allow the buses to come out of the depot.
The employees resorted to a unique protest in Bhadradi-Kothagudem district by rolling on the ground with a prayer on their lips. Tension prevailed when the employees and cops clashed.
At Shadnagar, Congress leaders distributed provisions to the families of the striking workers.
In Wanaparthy, the TSRTC employees got a shot in their arm when teachers joined them in the strike at the dharna chowk.
They swept the roads. In Mahbubnagar, the protestors handed over a temporary driver to cops when they found out that he was not issuing tickets to passengers after collecting the fare.