Tension prevailed at RTC bus depots and bus stands across the district on Monday as the striking employees, joined by Opposition party leaders, staged protests over unfulfilled demands.
Former minister and senior Congress leader Ponnala Lakshmaiah staged a demonstration at the Jangaon bus stand while District Congress Committee president Naini Rajender Reddy and MLA D. Anasuya joined the protests in Warangal city.
Mr Lakshmaiah accused Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao of being indifferent to the employees’ plight and said that the ruling TRS party used the services of all employees to gain strength during the separate Telangana movement. “We demand that the State government call the striking employees for talks and find a peaceful solution at the earliest,” he said.
Mr Rajender Reddy also recalled how the RTC employees had played a key role in the separate Telangana movement and have every right to seek fulfilment of their long-pending demands. The State government should call them for a discussion and deliver on its promises, he added.
Meanwhile, the Warangal region that operates over 940 buses daily with about 4,200 permanent employees could operate nearly 80 per cent of services with hired employees. It hired 400 drivers and 625 conductors to tide over the crisis due to strike by the employees that entered the tenth day on Monday.
