Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has asked the workers and employees of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) to join duties on Friday morning.
Addressing a press conference after a cabinet meeting in Hyderabad today, KCR listed out various measures to tackle the precarious financial condition of the TSRTC.
Here are the main points:
⦁ There won’t be any conditions for employees to join duty.
⦁ Government sanctioning Rs 100 crore as immediate financial assistance.
⦁ Government permits the TSRTC to hike bus fares by 20 paise per kilometer from next Monday.
⦁ The government will provide jobs to the kin of those employees who died during the strike period.
⦁ Government to starts Employee Welfare Councils.
Nearly 50,000 employees were on strike since October 5 to press for various demands including the merger of TSRTC with the government. About 1,500 employees later returned to duty in response to an appeal by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao.
The longest strike in the history of RTC in the Telugu states saw the suicide of five employees while some others died of depression.
The Joint Action Committee leaders alleged that the adamant stand of the government led to the death of 25 employees. The TSRTC has not paid salaries to the employees for September and October, causing distress to thousands of workers.
The chief minister not only rejected all the demands of the employees but claimed that they dismissed themselves by abstaining from work illegally.
In a move further angering the employees, the government had announced privatisation of 5,100 TSRTC routes. The High Court later dismissed a petition challenging the government's decision.
Read: TSRTC staff end strike, management says can't take them back
