(Image source from: Ndtv.com)
Darker Diwali Prevails For 48,000 TSRTC Employees On Strike:- While the entire nation celebrated the festival of lights, 48,000 TSRTC employees celebrated a dark Diwali still being on their persistent strike to get their demands fulfilled by the government. The KCR government has been very stringent with their decision of not combining TSRTC into the government cycle which is what initiated the strike in the first place.
These 48,000 employees who went on a strike to get their demands fulfilled have been without a job or a pay for six weeks now. The Chief Minister of Telangana, K Chandrashekar Rao sacked them from the job following their 23 days long strike to get 26 of their demands fulfilled by the government.
The main objective that these employees are claiming for is the merger of the corporation with the government which the chief minister isn’t reliant on.
48,000 families have forgot the meaning of festivals and are fighting for what they think is a rightly demand. Several of the families have claimed to not even have the basic amenities sorted out for themselves.
Kids from the families aren’t able to buy crackers or even new clothes to celebrate the festivals that are happening around. Owing to this, there has been nothing but a gloomy household even with such a bright festival of Diwali.
The bus drivers and conductors expect their salaries to be cleared out soon without any further delay but even that seems to be a question mark at this point.
(Video Source: NDTV)
If the reports are to be believed, three TSRTC employees have allegedly committed suicide following the unrest that they have been experiencing since the strike. The most recent death was reported to be of the 53-year-old Venkateshwarlu, who was a bus driver and resided around the Nalgonda district. The same happened on Saturday.
The opposition parties in the state, BJP and Congress are hell bent on criticizing the kind of decisions that the KCR Government has been stuck with. Even the chief minister, KCR, in a recent press conference quoted saying that the deaths were “not my responsibility.”
Just earlier this month, KCR sacked the employees on strike stating that they have self dismissed themselves, especially at such a crucial time when the transport department of the state is already suffering through losses amounting to over 1200 crores.
In one of the recently issued statements, it was suggested that the chief minister is ready to sit down with the representatives to talk everything around the situation. But, if the statements from the employees are to be considered, it seems like the talk didn’t go as planned as well.
“We are not celebrating Diwali. They called us for talks yesterday but they did not do right. Out of our 26 demands, they said they will only talk on 16,” Nagesh, an TSRTC employee on strike mentioned in an issued statement. Whether or not things are going to go as planned is still a matter of question.
What happens next with the TSRTC strike and the decision that the government settles on is something that still needs to be talked upon. Meanwhile, just a handful of buses are operational across the state.
By Somapika Dutta
