RTC JAC Calls For Protests At Bus Depots On Nov 23

TSRTC employee unions' JAC convener E Ashwatthama Reddy today said that the JAC would organize protests at all bus depots in the State on Saturday as Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was refusing to take the employees back after the latter called off their strike.

The JAC held a meeting today to discuss the mood of the State government and the expectations from the court order to come on Saturday on the strike issue.

On Wednesday KCR had said that his government would announce its decision on the RTC crisis only after the court verdict. He had also said that the government was not able to run the loss-making TSRTC, and would make some changes.

The JAC leadership cried foul at these statements of KCR. They vowed to intensify the strike if the government failed to retain the employees.

Reddy said that it was brutal that even though the workers were ready to rejoin the duties without insisting that their demands be fulfilled, the State government was not willing to take them back. He added that the employees were not responsible for the corporation's losses, and that the strike was the result of government's failure in resolving the RTC employees' issues.

He also exhorted the employees not to go to any depots any more to rejoin duties. The JAC would strongly fight for them, he said. He also said that the JAC would meet again on Saturday to discuss its future course of action.

Another JAC leader Raji Reddy also took serious exception to the Chief Minister's harsh attitude towards the striking employees.

For the uninitiated, the RTC JAC offered to withdraw the strike earlier this week if the State government took all the 48,000 employees back to services without any conditions.