With Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) employees’ unions set to begin an indefinite strike from Wednesday in support of their demands, the management has warned that action will be taken against those threatening employees or obstructing their duties. As the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of TGSRTC employees determined to go ahead with the strike from 5 a.m. on Wednesday, over 6,000 buses may go off the roads, affecting over 60 lakh passengers across the state.
The JAC expects that all 41,000 employees will participate in the strike to press their demands which include the implementation of the long-pending merger of the RTC with the state government, Pay Revision Commissions (PRC), payment of pending dues towards the Credit Cooperative Society (CCS) and the employees’ provident fund and wage revision and pending allowances.
The TGSRTC management, in an open letter to the employees, stated that strikes are prohibited in RTC as per the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA). It warned that legal action would be taken against those responsible for threatening employees or obstructing their duties in the name of the strike.
Also Read: Telangana CM urges RTC employees to withdraw strike call
The management appealed to employees not to go on strike as it would cause irreparable damage to the organisation and its employees, at a crucial time when the organisation is on the path of recovery. The management does not compromise on the welfare of the employees who are driving the RTC organisation forward. Every rupee that comes to the organisation is spent on their welfare, it said. The RTC management mentioned that despite the financial difficulties, it released the 2017 PRC, which has been pending for many years, with a fitment of 21 per cent in May 2024.
The 10 pending DAs have been released in phases since 2019. The TGSRTC also paid Rs 280 crore related to RPS-2013 bonds. For the last three and a half years, salaries have been paid on the 1st of every month. The management was gradually reducing the arrears by paying the PF and CCS recovery amounts regularly every month. The management told the unions that a strike is not a solution to the problems. The organisation was pushed into a deep crisis due to the strike in 2019.
There is a danger that all these will become adverse factors for the survival of the organisation, it said. Meanwhile, Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar on Tuesday renewed his appeal to employees not to go on strike as this would cause inconvenience to people.
He told the leaders of the union that he would bring their problems to the notice of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. The JAC leaders are also scheduled to meet the Minister later in the day to discuss their demands.
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