In a move that should bring cheer and relief to the 50,000 Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) workers, the State Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has taken a decision to allow them to resume duty without imposing any conditions from Friday morning, thus signalling an amicable end to the 52-day strike.
Disclosing the decision on RTC issue at a media conference after the Cabinet meeting here on Thursday, Mr. Rao said written orders would be issued to the RTC management to allow the employees to join duty from the first hour of Friday.
Though the RTC workers called off their strike on Monday, the management did not allow them to resume duty stating they were on an illegal strike and they could not join and strike work at their will.
Chief Minister said that entire Cabinet felt that the RTC workers who were totally “misled by the unions and Opposition parties” should be given a chance on humanitarian grounds. In a message to the RTC employees through media, he said, “at least realise now that the Opposition parties who provoked you would not come to your rescue if you lose your jobs. I will give immediate instructions to the RTC management. Your jobs and your Corporation should survive,” he said.
Significantly Mr. Rao did not raise the proposed plan to privatise 5,100 routes that was approved by the Cabinet earlier. On the other hand, he said though the Corporation has only ₹13 crore at its disposal, government would release ₹100 crore on Friday as an immediate assistance.
The Chief Minister also said the government had decided to increase RTC ticket fare by 20 paise per km to generate ₹752 crore additional income per year. He said people should realise that the government did not revise RTC fare in the last four years and the new fare would come into force from next Monday. He said orders would be issued to the RTC MD to increase the fare.
