The year gone by was a tumultuous year for Telangana State Road Transport Corporation, marked with protests and unrest. The transport juggernaut witnessed the longest strike in its history towards the end of 2019.
The 54-day strike of over 48,000 TSRTC workers began on October 5, and saw five suicides, and, around 30 deaths, attributed to the affects of the strike.
At the top of the list of demands was merger of the corporation with the State government. What ensued was a stand-off between Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and the TSRTC management led by in-charge Managing Director Sunil Sharma on one side, and the TSTRC Joint Action Committee on the other.
The Chief Minister threatened to shut down the Corporation which carries several lakhs of passengers every day, and questioned the timing of the strike – ahead of Dasara. Meanwhile, unions maintained that money was owed to workers and their demands were legitimate. Committees of IAS officers and later, Executive Directors, were set up to break the stalemate, but failed.
As per information obtained under the Right to Information Act, post the formation of Telangana, the Corporation’s losses skyrocketed from ₹ 5.47 crore in 2012-13 to ₹ 748.90 crore in 2017-18, an increase in losses of 150%. The following fiscal, the losses mounted to around ₹ 900 crore.
“The Chief Minister tried to project that the RTC deserves to be closed down, or privatised, due to losses. He also said that workers were self-dismissed, a term which doesn’t exist in labour laws. Now, after the strike, there are two predominant feelings: one is that the strike has achieved little, and the other is that measures are being taken by the government, but one step at a time. However, one thing is certain: workers were relieved to be back after fighting for their legitimate demands,” a union leader said.
Soon after the strike, and in an attempt to streamline processes, and to cut losses, the TSRTC gave the go-ahead for cargo services, as directed by the Chief Minister. And in a major relief to senior workers, the State government also cleared the decks for enhancement of retirement age of employees by two years – from 58 years to 60.
In another significant move, the TSRTC increased ticket fares by 20 paise per km. The move also included hiking the prices of bus passes, which TSRTC official say, contributes to issues in calculating the ridership. The last time fares were hiked was in 2016.
