Ponnam Urges TGSRTC Workers To Call Off Strike

Telangana Transport and BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar today appealed to TGSRTC workers to withdraw their proposed strike.

The minister said that the State government was always ready to resolve employee issues amicably through dialogue.

Prabhakar said that matters concerning the merger of the RTC with the State government and issues related to trade unions fell within the government's jurisdiction. He said that the government was prepared to discuss all other employee-related issues, barring these two specific topics.

He also said that the government's doors remained open at all times to listen to the grievances of employees.

The minister said that a 2.1% Dearness Allowance (DA) hike had recently been approved for RTC employees, and added that there were no pending DA arrears.

"The government is also actively considering the issue of the Pay Revision Commission (PRC) for RTC employees. It remains firmly committed to the welfare of the RTC employees," he said.

He recalled that the previous government had constituted a committee on the merger of RTC employees just ten days before the announcement of the election schedule, and abandoned the issue later.

The minister said that the decision to strike was inappropriate at a time when the RTC was gradually recovering, and that the strike would cause difficulties for both the organisation and the public.