Oppn parties seek Governor's intervention in RTC strike

The Congress, TDP and BJP besides other opposition parties on Wednesday sought Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan's intervention to resolve the stir by employees of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation which began on October 5, to press their various demands.

Despite the best efforts of the employees unions, political parties and even the High Court, the state government is turning a deaf ear to the crisis, the parties said in a memorandum submitted to the governor.

Keeping in view of the plight of the RTC workers and their families, we seek your intervention to resolve the crisis. The workers unions are ready for negotiations without the merger as a pre-condition.

Please do the needful to facilitate negotiations not just to resolve the demands but also to preserve the public transport system in Telangana, they said.

In the memorandum, the opposition parties took exception to an affidavit reportedly submitted by an RTC official to the court in which he allegedly said political parties were influencing the workers unions.

Senior Congress leader and former minister J Geeta Reddy said the opposition parties planned to meet the President in Delhi on the matter.

Meanwhile, employees and political activists continued their protests, including rallies and sit-ins against the state government.

At some places, they symbolically sought alms to express their protest.

Among other demands, the RTC employees want merger of the Corporation with the government, pay revision and recruitment to various posts.

The unions have, however, announced recently that they are ready to set aside their main merger demand for the time being.

The state government has declared the strike illegal.

The Telangana High Court on Monday directed the Labour Commissioner to take a call whether the strike should be referred to the Labour Court or not in two weeks to decide the legality of the stir.