HYDERABAD: Tension prevailed at the District Collector's office in Khammam and at the Sattupalle bus depot on Monday, as 35-year old B Neeraja, a woman conductor working for the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation(TSRTC) committed suicide.
Soon after the news of Neeraja's suicide broke out, hundreds of TSRTC employees reached the Collector's office and staged dharna along with the dead body of the woman conductor. A large number of police forces were deployed at the Collector's office to disperse the protesters and keep them at bay.
The agitated TSRTC employees also tried to attack the divisional manager of Sattupalle bus depot but he fortunately escaped unhurt. Hundreds of TSRTC employees blocked the Khammam to Rajahmundry highway and caused damage to two TSRTC buses.
This is the third suicide by a TSRTC employee in the state since the workers unions of the TSRTC went on a strike on October 5, following which the Chief Minister, K Chandrashekar Rao decided to sack around 48,000 employees of the Corporation. Khammam district has seen two suicides by TSRTC employees, while one employee committed suicide in Hyderabad.
There have been many suicide bids by TSRTC employees across the state following the announcement by the state government regarding sacking of the TSRTC employees.
Neeraja was working with the TSRTC's Sattupalle bus depot. She committed suicide by hanging in her house located at Kavirajanagar, Khammam. She is survived by her husband Rajasekhar, who is working as a supervisor in a granite unit at Khammam and two children.