With no let up in the strike by the APSRTC unions on the fourth day, the State-run transport corporation officials began to woo the contract employees, who reported for duties, by issuing regularisation orders.
This move resented by the recognised unions appeared to be the strategy of the APSRTC management to bring a split among the striking employees and break the deadlock. There are about 6,000 contract drivers and conductors across both the States.
By Saturday noon, the management had issued regularisation orders to 120 workers, who had reported for duties in Andhra Pradesh. There were no such reports from Telangana.
Private drivers roped in
The APSRTC management was adopting every means to ensure that the commuters did not suffer. The management claimed that by around noon on Saturday, it could operate 60.37 per cent of scheduled services in Andhra Pradesh and 30.5 per cent in Telangana. This was achieved with assistance from other Government departments that together offered the services of 265 drivers, apart from hiring 2000 private drivers on temporary basis at Rs. 1,000 a day. The break-up of the 265 includes 125 from Fire Services, 80 from police and 60 from AP Special Police.
Interestingly, these Government drivers have been rewarded with the Rs. 1,000 per day paid to the private drivers, because of their willingness to help out the APSRTC in a crisis situation, said the corporation’s Chief Traffic Manager, S. Suresh Kumar.
Meanwhile, the ongoing strike continued to compound the travelling woes of the public, especially in the urban areas across including the twin cities, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati, and other Tier II cities.
Share autorickshaws continued to make money, charging more than usual from harassed passengers who had no alternative but to use the three-wheelers to go about their daily business, cursing members of the recognised APSRTC-Employees Union and Telangana Mazdoor Union (TMU) for their misery.
Vanta vaarpu protest
Agitating workers in Visakhapatnam expressed their protest in an innovative manner by organising a ‘Vanta Vaarpu’ programme (cooking on the road) outside the Maddilapalem and Waltair depots. In Vijayawada, there were some tense moments outside the Pandit Nehru Bus Station as agitators supported by the Left parties tried to prevent private drivers from taking out hired buses. A scuffle ensued between the agitators and the police.
A temporary driver was injured and the windowpanes of three hired RTC buses were damaged when miscreants hurled stones at the vehicles on the outskirts of Khammam town even as the strike by the RTC unions entered the fourth day on Saturday.
The worry of EAMCET aspirants
About the corporation’s preparedness to handle the Engineering and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET) to be conducted on May 14, Joint Managing Director G.V. Ramana Rao said they were confident of having alternate arrangements in place if the strike continued till that day. He appealed to the striking employees to come back, reminding them that they had a social responsibility to fulfil and that they could not continue to inconvenience the travelling public during peak operational period.
Meanwhile, the agitating unions held a meeting at the Employees Union office and announced their resolve to intensify the strike. The modalities of how exactly they would go about intensifying their struggle would be announced, union leaders said.
