HYDERABAD: Road Transport Corporation buses will go off the road in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh after April 16 if the salaries of the corporation’s employees are not increased on a par with of government employees, RTC employee unions have warned the management.
Besides, the unions have demanded division of the RTC immediately between the two states.
A strike notice with the above demands was served to vice-chairman and managing director N Sambasiva Rao by the heads of the unions. Earlier, hundreds of employees laid siege to Bus Bhavan, RTC’s headquarters, here on Thursday making the above demands.
Employee unions of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana joined hands to stage the protest. APSRTC Employee Union, RTC Telangana Mazdoor Union, TSRTC Employee Union and AITUC participated in the protest.
RTC Telangana Mazdoor Union’s working president M Thomas Reddy said the salaries were supposed to be increased in April 2013 but not till date. “Bus services in TS and AP will be stopped after April 16 if the demands are not met. The managing director heard us and was sympathetic to our demands,” he said.
After a procession from Sundaraiah Park at Baghlingampally to Azamabad (RTC Crossroads), a public meeting was held at Bus Bhavan. Security was beefed up at the entrance of RTC’s administrative building to bar entry of agitating employees. As scores of RTC employees marched towards the RTC’s administrative building, the flow of traffic at the busy RTC Crossroads was disrupted on Thursday. While it was elbow- to-elbow situation near Bus Bhavan, streams of employees made their way to join the demonstrators. This made it difficult for motorists to make headway on the road.
Students appearing for the SSC examination (Maths Paper-II) were put to hardship as several bus services were cancelled due to RTC employees participating in the demonstration.
TSRTC Employees Union general secretary Raji Reddy said that they had planned to lay siege to the corporation’s office in March but postponed it. “The agony of by the employees should also be understood,” he appealed to the public. Public meetings will be conducted in the next two weeks on their demands.
Services Hit
RTC bus services were badly hit in Hyderabad because employees joined the protest at Bus Bhavan. Except at the Ranigunj and Cantonment depots, a large number of buses stayed put at all depots. At the Musheerabad depot, about 40 per cent buses did not move out. However, the services will resume from Friday.
Long Weekend
With a long weekend ahead and people expected to travel to hometowns and other destinations, additional services will be operated to neighbouring districts and states from Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station.Against a normal bus occupancy rate of about 70 per cent, an OR of 90 per cent was recorded on Thursday. Khammam, Warangal, Guntur, Vijayawada, East Godavari and West Godavari are the districts to which RTC is running additional services. Also, more buses will be pressed into service to cater to people returning from Bangalore, Pune and Chennai.
