Telangana sacks 48K striking transport staff
Trade bodies of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) will challenge the state government’s decision to sack about 48,000 agitating employees, as and when they are served dismissal or suspension notices, a union leader said on Monday.
Telangana Mazdoor Union president E Ashwathama Reddy, however, clarified that the agitating workers have not received any dismissal or suspension notice from the government or the management of TSRTC.
“We have been appointed as per rules. They cannot remove us just like that,” said Reddy. “There are courts. If necessary, we will approach courts ,” he said.
His statement comes a day after the state government declared the indefinite strike, called by different employees’ and workers’ unions of the TSRTC, “illegal” and rejected their demands for a merger with it.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, on Sunday, said employees who did not join duty before the set deadline (6 pm on Saturday), would not be taken back.
“As it is there are less than 1,200 employees in the RTC,” he said, indicating that those who have not reported for duty before the deadline, would be losing their jobs.
The indefinite strike on Friday midnight was called by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the corporation, demanding merger of the RTC with the government and recruitment to various posts, among other things.
The agitation, by nearly 50,000 people, entered its third day on Monday, with the TSRTC buses staying off the roads, hampering travel plans of thousands of people during the festive season.
The chief minister had directed concerned officials to hire 2,500 private buses to make up for the shortfall of public transport.
He also ordered that normal RTC operations must be restored in 15 days. He added that new employees should be hired soon and they should sign an undertaking that they would not join any trade unions.