At a time when the people of Telangana are celebrating Bathukamma festival and are travelling to their native places for Dasara to enjoy a long holiday, the employees and workers of RTC have water down their enthusiasm in a big way.
Starting midnight on Friday, over 50,000 RTC employees will be going on strike, confining more than 10,000 regular buses and 2,000 hired buses belonging to Telangana state road transport corporation to the depots.
The talks between the RTC employees and workers’ joint action committee and the government-appointed committee being held for three days have failed, as the JAC wanted a firm and written commitment from the government on resolution of their demands.
The demands include merger of RTC with the state government as was done in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and revision of their salaries pending since April 2017. They want fresh recruitment in the corporation to reduce the workload on the employees.
The government said it would make alternative arrangements to avoid inconvenience to the passengers during the strike period by hiring private travel operators, besides school and other private buses, to meet the demand of passengers during the Dasara festive season.
But, one does not know how far they would be available from tomorrow. So, not-so-happy Dasara for people this season!