The leaders of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the employees of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), who led a strike that lasted close to two months, on Thursday welcomed the decision of the state cabinet to allow workers to resume duties.
"All of you can resume duties happily tomorrow," Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said on Thursday after a Cabinet meeting that lasted for over three hours.
JAC Convener E Ashwathama Reddy, one of the most prominent faces during the strike, asked employees to resume duties and said that he was happy with KCR's decision. He also apologised to commuters who faced hardships due to the strike, as Telangana government was only operating skeletal services with temporary staff.
However, Ashwathama also hit out at KCR for his comments against the unions and said that they only went on protest to highlight their working conditions. He said that financial security and other benefits for the employees were the main reasons that they fought for.
JAC leader Thomas Reddy also welcomed the move and said that he was also satisfied with the state government's decision to release Rs 100 crore to the TSRTC, to mitigate the losses temporarily.
Nearly 48,000 employees went on strike from October 5 to press for various demands, including the demand to merge the TSRTC with the government, which would give them the same benefits as state government employees.
Around 25 employees of the corporation died during the period, some of whom took their own lives due to the crisis.
On Thursday, KCR lashed out at the union leaders who were leading the strike and said that they had 'misled' the employees.
“We care for the employees but not for the union leaders. We will give a job to the kin of the families who died. We will accommodate them either in the RTC or in some other department in the state government. We will definitely help them,” he said.
The Telangana Chief Minister also said that he would soon travel to New Delhi and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the issue with him.