Telangana transport strike: government fired over 48,000 workers

Hyderabad, Oct 7, 2019, Monday

Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) employees have been on strike indefinitely for the past three days. Annoyed by this, the KCR government has fired more than 48,000 employees from work.

Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao made it clear on Sunday night that all TSRTC personnel who did not appear on duty before the government-defined time limit would not be withdrawn.

About 50,000 employees of the TSRTC continued their strike for the second consecutive day, affecting bus services across the state. More than one million passengers avail bus service every day and only 1,200 employees have survived the TSRTC following the Chief Minister's clarification.

The Telangana government declared the strike illegal and asked employees to report back to duty by six hours on Saturday evening. The Chief Minister remained firm on his decision in this regard and the employees who did not appear on duty within a certain time limit lost their jobs.

The main demands of the employees who were on strike were to dissolve the TSRTC in the government, but the chief minister rejected the demand. He said the employees had made a serious mistake by landing on the strike and there was no need to compromise with them.

In a review meeting with top officials, Chandrasekhar Rao soon pushed for hiring new employees and called for a permanent break on the strategy, disadvantages and procedures of blackmailing the government always. At the same time, the newly hired staff made it clear that they would have to make a promise in writing that they would not join a trade union.