Reportedly with no signs of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) strike on October 5 being called off, transport officials in the state are trying to rope in private bus owners and drivers to ensure smooth service on Dasara, which falls on October 8. Meanwhile this is after two rounds of talks between the nine unions and the state government failed, with barely 24 hours left for the strike to begin.
Furthermore the corporation has written to depot managers to hire private bus owners and ensure that they hire their drivers and conductors. Hence the corporation is even making a database of all contractual and casual employees in the RTC so that their service would be availed during the strike. Reportedly the children of the staff and retired employees of the RTC have also come forward as volunteers.
Moreover the RTC has also requested the Road Transport Offices (RTOs) to provide them with a list of all eligible drivers of heavy passenger vehicles with a minimum of 18 months experience. Thomas Reddy, TSRTC JAC co-convenor said “The nine unions had made 26 demands, but the state government-appointed panel sought more time to discuss the issue of merger of RTC with the state government and requested the unions to call off the strike and the panel assured the unions that a report stating the issues would be readied, we asked them to tell us when this report would be ready but the committee isn't even giving itself a deadline".
