In what it might be called a bold move, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Sunday night sacked over 48,000 RTC employees, who were on strike.
According to Deccan Chronicle, Chief Minister issued a statement in which K Chandrashekar Rao stated that 48,140 RTC employees, who were on strike, have been fired from service. The total strength of RTC is 49,340 workers. Rao said only 1,200 employees now remained in the RTC as the remaining of the staff had failed to join their duty before the government’s deadline of 6 pm on October 5. Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has said that there will be no talks with Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (RTC) employees, who are on strike demanding a merger with the government.
"Under any circumstances, RTC will not be merged with the government and the government will not have any talks with those who went on strike," Rao said in a statement on Sunday. "The chief minister said RTC is incurring losses to the tune of Rs 1,200 crore and has Rs 5,000 crore debts coupled with the ever-rising the diesel prices. When RTC is under such a bad situation, there is no question of having any compromise," said the statement.
After reviewing the situation with senior officers of the transport and police departments, besides the RTC management, at Pragathi Bhavan, Rao, in a press statement, declared that the government will not have any further talks with the RTC unions. Rao disclosed a plan of hiring 2,500 bus drivers on a war-footing and granting permission for another 4,115 private buses to be brought into the RTC. It was decided to run the RTC with 50:50 ratio on a private-public partnership (PPP) basis in the future.
The statement said that the chief minister wanted the appointment of new employees, who should be given an undertaking that they would not join in any trade union at the time of joining. The new recruits will be put under certain conditions and they will also have a probationary period.
"It was decided that in the buses to be run by RTC, fifty per cent would be private buses and the rest would be of the RTC. If measures and action are taken in this direction, buses will run efficiently and the RTC will become profitable in two to three years," it said. A committee was formed under the chairmanship of Sunil Sharma and Sandeep Sultania, RTC Executive Directors and Joint Transport Commissioner Panduranga Nayakulu to discuss the matter. The Committee will submit its proposals on Monday.
