The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has once again turned to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on the ongoing TSRTC strike to request her intervention. It has urged the Governor to instruct the government to pay salary to all the employees for September, withhold the process of giving RTC land on lease to private parties, follow the High Court advice and invite RTC employees for negotiations as well as ensure that a full-time Chairman and Managing Director is appointed to manage its affairs.
Telangana BJP leaders led by president K. Laxman and others told the Governor that the RTC employees have been on strike for the last 12 days, but there has been no effort by the government to address any of the issues raised by them. It has also been oblivious to the acute inconvenience and hardships being faced by the people in the absence of RTC bus services.
Reminding that the party had met her earlier on the same issue, the BJP leaders, including N. Indrasena Reddy, N. Ramachander Rao, Ch. Sambamurthy, S. Malla Reddy, N.V. Subash and others, informed her that the government has been “obstinate” in its stance, and feared that this was due to the “ulterior motive” of handing over prime properties of the RTC across Telangana to private parties who have close proximity with the ruling TRS.
In a memorandum submitted to Ms. Soundarajan, the BJP stated that the RTC has 1,500 acres of prime land and other assets worth ₹80,000 crore. It charged the government of handing over properties to private parties “without following any norms” in certain places in the twin cities. Even fuel filling stations have been leased out with the RTC not in a position to utilise the profits thus made.
The suicide of two RTC employees – Srinivas Reddy in Khammam and Surender Goud in Hyderabad – did not make the government budge from its stance. The striking employees are under tremendous stress and on top of it, by refusing to release last month’s salary to over 48,000 employees, the government was resorting to violation of human rights.
Mr. Laxman said the government owed hundreds of crores in dues to the TSRTC and has also used up over ₹1,200 crore from the RTC Employees’ Provident Fund.
Dasara vacation was extended for the first time with the private educational institutions being forced to allow their buses to run as public carriages. “We request you to take suo moto cognizance of the observations of the High Court and impress upon the government to follow its advice,” the memorandum said.