Hyderabad: The Telangana government ruled out a merger of Road Transport Corporation with the on Telangana State Road Transport Corporation on Saturday as TSRTC workers continued their indefinite strike.
A strike was called after 48,000 workers of the transport body were dismissed. CM K Chandrashekhar Rao had claimed that the workers hadn't been removed as they had "opted out of the job" by default when they failed to report for duty.
Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar, at a press conference, claimed that the government never promised for merger of the RTC with the TSRTC.
“The strike is illegal. Employees who did not attend their duties on time are deemed to be ‘self-dismissed’” Kumar said, adding that the government has “successfully made alternative arrangements to avoid inconvenience in the festive season by operating over 8,000 plus.
Besides, officials are recruiting drivers, conductors and will create normal conditions in few days, he said.
The Minister also hit out at the opposition parties and asked if they are supporting the strike and endorsing the inconvenience of the people.
“They are running propaganda that assets of RTC is about one lakh crores, which actually is only Rs 4,416 crore as per 2014 balance sheet,” Kumar said.
Further, the Minister said that he does not want RTC, but turn it into a profitable organisation. He also mentioned the average salary of a worker is Rs 30,000 and with a fitment of 44 percent, which is higher than the government employs.
Reacting on the Minister’s comments, RTC Joint Action Committee convener Ashwathama Reddy said, “We are not by the threats of of the government and will not step back until a resolution is met.”
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