Telangana government refuses to blink, mum on talks with TSRTC unions

HYDERABAD: A day after the TSRTC joint action committee (JAC) gave up its demand on merger of the transport corporation with the government and expressed willingness for a dialogue, TRS government on Friday remained aloof. Senior officials said the government has no intention to call the striking unions for talks. Angered by the tepid response, the employees said they would continue the strike.
Till the other day, the government had been telling the high court that the deadlock over talks was due to the unions sticking to their demand on merger. But 24 hours after JAC extended an olive branch, the government has not come forward. “We have not received any invitation or indication on the talks. We will continue our agitation,” JAC convenor Ashwathama Reddy told TOI on Friday.
RTC unions have claimed that of the 26 demands, most of them could be addressed by the government without any hassle. “Our demands include payments to RTC cooperative credit society and provident fund, buying new buses, recruitment of drivers and workers and salary to workers for the period of Sakala Janula Samme (strike during pro-Telangana agitation). We also want women workers, especially bus conductors, to be allowed to go before 9 pm,” the JAC convenor said.
The RTC requires 2,500 drivers and close to 2,000 workers in various workshops. CM K Chandrasekhar Rao himself had said 2,000 buses are old buses and need to be replaced.
“These are not new demands put forth by the unions. We have been asking the government to redress these issues, but the government has not bothered to resolve them,” he said.
With the strike entering 42nd day on Friday and RTC buses confined to depots, the RTC management is worried about condition of the buses, especially batteries and tyres. “Of the 8,500 buses owned and being operated by RTC, about 4,000 are being run by temporary drivers and conductors. Rest of the buses are stuck to the depots. Not only batteries get discharged, the tyres will also be rendered useless due to non-operation of buses,” a senior RTC official said.
For replacing the batteries (two in each bus) and six tyres, the management will have to cough up several crores of rupees to replace them, he added.