Government to privatise all the 10,000-odd routes of TSRTC if the striking employees failed to report till today midnight: CM KCR

The State government and the striking TSRTC employees once again appeared set for yet another round of confrontation on Monday with both sides hardening their stands. 

The State government, which reviewed the ongoing strike on Monday and its offer for RTC employees to return to work unconditionally by midnight of November 5, made it clear on that there was no going back on its decision to privatise all the 10,000-odd routes of TSRTC if the striking employees failed to report to work by the midnight deadline. On the other hand, the TSRTC employees’ unions Joint Action Committee also remained adamant on its stand that the indefinite strike will continue notwithstanding the government offer.

The government, at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao at Pragati Bhavan, decided that if the RTC employees failed to make use of the offer to rejoin duties, they would not be allowed to return to the corporation under any circumstances. The meeting came to the unanimous conclusion that the government would have no option but to privatise the entire 10,000-odd routes if the employees don’t see reason and return to work.

The meeting which discussed in details all issues related to the strike including the Cabinet decision to privatise 5,100 routes, felt that it was now up to the RTC employees to take a call, whether they want



to keep their jobs using the good opportunity provided by the government or throw themselves and their families into jeopardy by not doing so.

The meeting, which also discussed the ongoing case on RTC strike in the High Court and the government’s approach in the case, examined the relevant labour laws and the Central Motor Vehicle Act.

The meeting concluded that the strike was already declared illegal by the Labour Department and despite this being the case, the government, adopting a humanitarian approach, offered the opportunity for the workers to keep their jobs. It does not make sense if the workers do not use the chance given to them. If the workers are not back by the deadline, the government will not lose any more time and begin the process of giving permits to private operators for 5,000 more routes in addition to the 5,100 routes already decided. This will make Telangana a RTC-free State, and this will be the result of the adamant attitude of the striking RTC employees , the meeting felt.

Among those who attended the meeting were Transport Minister P Ajay Kumar, Chief Advisor to the government Rajiv Sharma, Chief Secretary S K Joshi, senior officers S Narsing Rao, Ramakrishna Rao, Sandeep Sultania, Sunil Sharma, Aravind Kumar, Lokesh Kumar, Additional Advocate General Ramachandar Rao.