WARANGAL: Soon after the employees’ unions of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) went on an indefinite strike, the corporation had made an announcement calling for temporary staff to replace the striking workers. The pay offered was reasonable, with drivers being offered `1,500 per day and conductors `1,000. Considering there is no dearth of unemployed persons in Telangana, several of the State’s denizens jumped at the opportunity.
However, it seems now that many of these initially enthusiastic job-seekers no longer want to stay around with the RTC. Despite it having been just about 10 days since the strike began, the attrition rate among the temporary staff is rather high. While there are multiple factors that may have led to this, the depot authorities’ refusal to pay the promised amount is one of the main causes.
As admitted by many employees, money was the primary incentive for them to take up the job. The officials, however, are apparently paying only half the promised amount, citing reasons such as “the employees’ failure to meet the targets” in terms of the number of laps, kilometres travelled, etc. Besides, while driving buses, the staff are constantly fearing an attack from protesting employees. Adding to their anxieties, even the buses are not in good working condition, the temporary drivers allege, as the heavy vehicles often do not stop immediately after applying breaks.
Speaking to Express, N Sampath, a temporary RTC worker who drives a private school bus in Warangal, is unhappy with the raw deal he was given. “I took up this job after I saw the circular issued by the RTC. But they are giving us only half the money that they had promised initially. So I have decided to stop working here,” said Sampath.E Ramesh, a conductor on a temporary basis, reiterated Sampath’s point.
“As a student, I had decided to work for the RTC during my holidays because I was expecting a good income. But if we fail to achieve their high targets, they pay us only half the amount,” he said. When contacted, RTC Warangal regional manager A Sridhar admitted that many temporary employees were being paid much less than they were promised. “Most temporary employees work only for six hours, though they are expected to stay for 12 hours. They are paid based on their working hours. In addition, we have been receiving many complaints from commuters stating that the staff were collecting additional fares from them,” said Sridhar.