Striking RTC workers celebrated the government’s announcement of conceding their demand for salary hike on Wednesday afternoon at all the bus depots in Adilabad.
They took out a victory rally at Asifabad and washed Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s flex posters at Adilabad. The jubilant workers danced and distributed sweets at Adilabad, Nirmal, Bhainsa, Utnoor, Mancherial and Asifabad depots.
Special Correspondent adds: The RTC employees, who were agitating for the past one week, burst with joy as the government announced 44 per cent fitment, one per cent more than what they had sought, here on Wednesday. Thousands of employees gathered at Hanamkonda bus station, smeared colours on each other, distributed sweets and burst fire crackers.
RTC Employees’ Union leaders E. Venkanna, Manohar and others thanked the workers and general public for their cooperation. They said that they were extremely happy over the success of their strike and pledged to do their bit to improve the corporation. The State government has consented to give 44 per cent fitment only because of the pressure from the striking unions, said Mr. Venkanna.
The employees were also happy over the government’s decision to regularise contract workers, but they felt that the Chief Minister should have responded before the strike was launched, opined Mr. Manohar.
On the other hand, members of RTC Telangana Mazdoor Union led by its leader E.S. Babu and others performed ‘palabhishekam’ to the flexi portrait of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. The general public heaved a sigh of relief with the calling off of RTC strike, while the authorities put the revenue loss at Rs. 8 crore due to the strike.
