The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) is soon going to conduct a rally, ‘Chalo Tank Bund.’
On the 6th of November, the TSRTC and the Joint Action Committee (JAC) conducted meetings with opposition parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP,) the Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and others for the rally.
Chalo Tank bund, a massive march to protest against the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS,) is scheduled to be held on the 9th of November.
The TSRTC employees, who went on an indefinite strike on the 5th of October, are adamant about their decision and chose not to step back despite several warnings and deadlines given by the TRS.
The TSRTC and the JAC went on strike with demands like welfare schemes for the TSRTC employees and the merging of the TSRTC with the State Government.
E. Ashwathama Reddy, the Convenor of the JAC, addressed the media and said the leaders and the TSRTC employees would conduct the massive ‘Chalo Tank Bund’ rally. He further said despite the deadline given by the TRS Government to rejoin duty, not even 1% of the employees joined duty. Only 360 TSRTC workers of the 48,800 joined duty before 5th of November at midnight, the deadline set by the TRS Government.
Ashwathama Reddy said, “We want the Government to call the workers for talks. If the Government intimidates, the issue would become more complicated. The Centre has provided feasibility for the State Governments to privatise some routes as per the new MV Act, but it is not compulsory for them.” He further said, “There were efforts to dispose of TSRTC after the formation of Telangana. Government is even dictating the courts.”
Speaking about the opposition parties, the BJP extended full support to the TSRTC employees for the Chalo Tank Bund rally. K. Laxman, the President of the BJP in Telangana, said the Party would support the employees and take part in the rally.
Laxman further criticised K. Chandrashekar Rao, the Chief Minister of Telangana and said, “The Chief Minister has given three deadlines to striking employees and tried to intimidate them but RTC employees did not respond to deadlines. Merely about 300 hundred employees have shown interest to join duty when 50,000 employees are on strike in support of their demands. This is a victory for RTC employees and defeat for the Chief Minister.”
The Chalo Tank Bund rally is set to begin at 8:00 A.M., on the 9th of November.
Stay tuned for further updates.
