The ongoing indefinite strike of the TSRTC employees entered its 51st day on Sunday, even as the government is yet to take a decision on the offer made by the RTC Joint Action Committee (JAC).
TSRTC JAC Convenor Ashwathama Reddy reiterated that the employees will continue to strike and hold protests across the state till the government agrees to a climbdown and holds an unconditional dialogue with the employees.
In a brief conversation with TNM, Ashwathama said that workers strike is still on and will continue till their demands are met.
"Earlier, we temporarily dropped the merger demand. We also offered to end the strike if they are willing to have us back without any preconditions, and start a dialogue… but there is no response from the government so far. We are still open to the dialogue process and the government has the opportunity to do so,” he said.
“Today, we held Manavaharams (human chains) across bus depots. Tomorrow, the RTC employees will hold protests in front of all bus stands,” he added.
Earlier this week, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the TSRTC announced that they are ready to call off their indefinite strike if the government allows them to resume duties without any precondition.
The government has not given any indication on whether the employees will be taken back or whether it will hold a dialogue with the employees. According to reports, there will be clarity on the issue after KCR's next review meeting.
Earlier this week, even as the JAC made an offer to end the strike, the Telangana High Court disposed of a writ petition that was filed against the state governments' decision to privatise 5,100 routes, which is half of the bus routes in Telangana.
As many as 48,000 TSRTC staff (drivers, conductors, mechanics, etc) have been on an indefinite strike for the last 50 days, seeking a set of demands. Earlier, out of the many demands, the employees had agreed to drop their main demand for a merger of the corporation with the government, which would essentially make them government employees with the same benefits.
In the past 50 days, more than 20 RTC workers have died, with many dying due to strokes.