In a first of its kind in the history of independent India, the Telangana government on Sunday sacked over 48,000 employees and workers of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) from service at a single stroke.
The announcement was made by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who reviewed the situation arising out of the two-day long strike by 49,000-odd RTC employees and workers on a call given by the joint action committee of the employees’ unions.
KCR, who called for an emergency meeting of the officials of the transport and police departments, declared that all the employees who had not returned to the duties by Saturday evening had been removed from service and there was no question of taking them back into their jobs.
He also ruled out holding any further negotiations with the sacked employees.
“It is an unpardonable crime that the employees went on a strike during the festive season and at a time when the RTC was incurring a huge loss of Rs 1200 crore and its debt burden had gone up to Rs 5,000 crore,” he said.
KCR further said there was no question of merger of RTC with the government as was done in Andhra Pradesh.
The government will not succumb to any indiscipline and blackmailing tactics of the employees’ unions, he said.
“Now, the RTC is left with 1200 employees. We shall soon start the recruitment process for making fresh appointments. But the new recruits will have to give an undertaking that they would not join any unions,” he said.