TSRTC Strike: Protest against State Govt intensifies in Hyderabad

The employees of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) on Wednesday intensified their indefinite protest against the sacking of over 40,000 employees by the state government, which entered day 25 today. The agitated workers rubbed their nose on ground one by one to mark their protest stating that they have made a mistake by casting their votes in the favour of the K. Chandrashekar Rao's government.

"We are touching our nose on the ground because we voted for the TRS. Everyone, who votes for TRS will come and do the same," said an agitated protester. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao had said that there is "no question" of having any talks with the agitating 48,000 RTC employees.

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High Court directs negotiations between two parties

The Telangana High court had insisted the RTC to hold talks with its protesting employees and had directed the state government and the protestors to settle all disputes before October 28. Lawyers of the government had earlier ruled out the possibility of any negotiation, but later agreed to hold talks with the protestors after the High Court’s directives to attend to the protesters and negotiate since nearly half of the demands did not have any financial obligation.

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About RTC employees' strike

Over 48,000 RTC employees have been on an indefinite strike that started on October 5, against the State government to have the employees’ demands met. Various political parties including have also come together in support of the RTC employees and are demanding the state government to take them back. Opposition parties including the BJP, Congress, and CPI have extended support to this state-wide protest by the RTC workers and participated in the protest outside the District Collector's office. The strike also saw the participation of activists, trade unions, teachers and workers joining the protest against what they called a 'dictatorial' attitude of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. 

The state-wide bandh had been called by the RTC employees and joint action committee (JAC) of various unions. To add to its intensity, the Ola and Uber cab drivers had also gone on an indefinite strike to press their demands of regularizing the cab aggregator market in which nearly 50,000 cabs had gone off the roads as claimed by the drivers' association.

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(With ANI inputs)