CM KCR warns TSRTC against intensifying protest, extends school holidays till Oct 19

The ongoing indefinite strike by the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) staff has forced the government to extend the ongoing school holidays till October 19.

“In another three-four days, 100% of TSRTC buses will function. Until then, to avoid inconvenience to students, we are extending holidays to all the government and private educational institutions till October 19,” Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao said. He added that to compensate for the holidays, the educational institutions should hold classes on second Saturdays.

State Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar on Saturday said that while the RTC was running 2,969 buses, 1,585 buses are being run by private agencies, and 2,000 other vehicles are being operated (which includes school buses, private tour vehicles, etc.).

The Board of Intermediate Education of Telangana also issued orders to the concerned government, aided and private colleges to adhere to the new holiday schedule and resume classes from Monday, October 21.

On Saturday, the CM reiterated that he will not reinstate the 48,000-plus TSRTC employees who are on strike. Terming the TSRTC protests “illegal”, the CM said that the government will never recognise their strike.

The TSRTC employees have been on strike since October 5 to press for their demands, including merging the TSRTC with the government.

Furthermore, the CM directed officials to disburse September salaries only to those TSRTC employees who joined duty on October 5, the deadline set by the government.

“The union leaders behaved irresponsibly and were responsible for the termination of 48,000 employees. There is no scope of re-hiring the employees who abstained from duties, and no question of having any talks with them. The question of talks doesn’t arise at all,” the CM said.

He also added that he will not forgive employees who caused inconvenience to passengers by going on strike during the Dasara festival season.

Warning the TSRTC JAC leaders, he said, “The JAC is saying that they will intensify their struggle. Even if you intensify your struggle, the government won’t respond nor will we be afraid. The government is committed not to cause any inconvenience to passengers, so we are running the buses. If buses are stopped and the employees create disturbance at bus depots, we won’t tolerate it. Goondagardi (rowdyism) won’t work. The government has already been soft on them, but henceforth we will act strictly.”