The suicide attempt made by an RTC driver Srinivas Reddy from Khammam depot on Saturday evening triggered a massive uproar among the RTC employees who have been on strike for the last eight days.
The Joint Action Committee of Telangana RTC employees’ unions has blamed it on the adamant attitude of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao who has refused to pay salaries for the month of September to the striking employees, stating that they were all dismissed from service.
Srinivas Reddy, a driver attached to Khammam Depot, was upset over his illegal dismissal from services by the Chief Minister.
He did not get his salary and had no money to buy clothes for the family for Dussera festival.
"KCR is directly responsible for this tragic incident. He not only sacked over 48,000 employees in a single shot in an illegal manner, but also withheld their September salaries. This height of cruelty drove Srinivas to suicide who had set himself ablaze. His son, who tried to extinguish the fire, also suffered severe burn injuries," Congress spokesman G Narayan Reddy said.
He demanded that the Chief Minister must be booked for abetting RTC employees to suicide.
Reddy pointed out that so far four RTC employees died of heart attack after their illegal dismissal from services.
Instead of being apologetic for the inhuman approach, the Chief Minister shamelessly issued another statement today announcing that those who went to strike will not be taken back and their September salaries too would not be cleared.
Appealing RTC employees not to resort to any extreme step, the Congress leader demanded that the State Government immediately hold talks with the RTC unions and resolve their issues.