As the ongoing APSRTC strike entered the 7th day on Tuesday, the Employees Union sought two days' time for them to convene a general body meeting and discuss the modalities of calling off their indefinite struggle seeking 43 per cent pay hike.
However, the High Court in its orders issued a little past noon on Tuesday, gave them a day's time only.
When contacted, Employees Union President Ch. Chandrasekhara Reddy said that because the court had given them a day's time, the strike would continue on Wednesday.
Union General Secretary K. Padmakar said that they had put forth their arguments before the High Court, saying how their agitation had become inevitable. "It has been 25 months now since we were promised the pay hike, but it is yet to implemented. Now when we are demanding 43 per cent, the management appears to have frozen at a lesser percentage," he said.
Explaining further, he said that it was sad but argued that there was no alternative for the workers but to agitate. "If the Court does not give us two days' time, we will continue, even intensify our strike," he declared.
APSRTC Managing Director Nanduri Sambasiva Rao said that he had briefed the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet Sub-Committee on Tuesday on the current situation and the possible way forward to end the impasse between the employees and management.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the management could operate 60 per cent of its scheduled services in AP and 40 per cent in Telangana. But unlike the situation in cities like Hyderabad and Secunderabad on Monday, when 45 per cent of urban services were run, the number of buses plying on the roads of the twin cities on Tuesday was far less.
