On the 26th of November, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) management refused to accept the letters of the TSRTC employees about rejoining duty.
Sunil Sharma, the Managing Director of the TSRTC, said the employees cannot join duty until the TRS Government discuss the matter. He also warned the employees against creating any law and order problem at bus depots.
E. Ashwathama Reddy, the Convenor of the Joint Action Committee (JAC,) on the 25th of November, asked the TSRTC employees to rejoin duty. After a meeting with the TSRTC JAC leaders and political party leaders, Ashwathama called off the strike and said the TSRTC employees decided to rejoin duty after the Telangana High Court (HC) announced its verdict and approved the privatisation of 5,100 bus routes.
TSRTC JAC leaders asked all the 48,800 employees to rejoin their duty by 6:00 A.M., on the 26th of November and urged the temporary employees to leave the TSRTC premises.
Besides, the JAC Convenor clarified if the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) refuses to let the TSRTC employees rejoin duty, they would continue the strike.
Previously, the TSRTC JAC urged the Government to take back the RTC employees. However, due to the Government’s unresponsive attitude, the JAC themselves took a decision and asked the TSRTC employees to report to duty by 6:00 A.M., on the 26th of November.
Meanwhile, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, the Chief Minister of Telangana, on the 25th of November, met Tamilisai Soundararajan, the Governor of Telangana, to discuss the TSRTC strike.
During the two and a half hour meeting, KCR explained to Ms. Soundararajan the stand of the Government about the ongoing issue and also discussed the privatisation matter. Though the TSRTC employees decided to call off the strike and come back to work, the TRS is not likely to go back on its decision of privatising 5,100 bus routes.
KCR also asked Tamilisai Soundararajan to approve an ordinance to introduce a new policy regarding the privatisation of bus routes.
The TRS Government is soon going to conduct a Cabinet meeting to discuss the ongoing issue and is also expected to table the privatisation policy.
However, an official announcement regarding the Cabinet meeting is yet to be made.
On the other hand, after not being allowed to rejoin duty, the TSRTC workers are going to file a case against the management in the Telangana High Court.
Stay tuned for further updates.
