Unforeseen fallout of strike by RTC employees

Depot administration hamstrung by damage caused by poor driving skills of ad hoc drivers

December 01, 2019 08:49 pm | Updated 08:49 pm IST

Finding tasks to assign to regular staff

With the end of the strike by employees of the TS RTC, management is trying to grapple with a host of side-effects it has left.

A curious fallout of the strike is the need to engage the crew who did not have work due to repairs taken up on buses that were damaged on account of poor driving skills of hired drivers during the agitation. For instance, at Kukatpally depot, which is one of the biggest in the State with a fleet of 131 buses, the depot manager has assigned the drivers and conductors the duty of queuing up passengers waiting for buses at bus stops. They were also asked to guide the travelling buses to bus bays.

As many as 78 mechanics worked round-the-clock in Kukatpally depot to attend to wear and tear of buses driven by hired drivers. But, it was not worth the effort because they were handicapped by non-availability of spare parts which the management could not procure during the strike period.

There are anywhere from 85 to 150 buses in each depot across the State. Ten to 40 buses needed repairs when the strike was called off. As many as 21 buses of Picket depot met with accidents and one of them had to be condemned as scrap.

‘Dipping fit’ Minister

Sports and Youth Services Minister V. Srinivas Goud sprang a surprise the other day with his non-stop 50 dips on the stage after flagging off a 10 km run on the Necklace Road.

Mr. Goud shared the visual of his dips on his twitter handle after the event. He amused the crowd that had gathered in front of the stage while narrating the importance of physical fitness in his speech. Clad in sportswear, the Minister leaned forward by lowering his body and dipped down, lifted up the body more than 50 times. A couple of others on the stage followed suit.

He instantly earned the appreciation of the crowd as a fitness freak despite his busy schedule and travels far and wide.

Wait for PRC continues

The anxious wait of the employees for the recommendations of the Pay Revision Commission appears to be set to continue for some more time.

The government recently issued orders extending the tenure of the Commission by another six months — till February next year. This is the third such extension to the PRC which was constituted in May last year with three-month deadline with August 2018 set as the time by which it should submit the report. The third extension has become a cause of concern for the employees as they are due for pay revision from July 1 last year and a section of employees are raising doubts on whether the government is dodging the issue in the name of repeated extensions.

(N. Rahul and M. Rajeev)

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