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Hyderabad: The talks between the state government and the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) union leaders have failed without any conclusion, leading to workers going on an indefinite strike starting from 12 am on April 22.

The discussions, which began on Tuesday evening, April 21, went on till late in the evening between the high-level committee of bureaucrats and workers, which derailed after the RTC Joint Action Committee (JAC) leaders refused to wait for another four weeks for the committee to submit its report.

Calling it a snub, the RTC union leaders, who expected a minister or someone higher to attend the meeting, were taken by shock when they saw no political representatives in the talks.

In fact the RTC leaders were also hoping that either Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, or Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka would attend the meeting.

“If they had to hold discussions with only officials, they could have done it at RTC Bhavan itself. What was the need to call them to the Secretariat,” asked a RTC worker.

One of the JAC leaders said that the four-member committee got up and left midway, after the JAC leaders representing the workers expressed their resentment towards the idea of report submission, and new assurances for the same old issues.

RTC JAC chairperson E Venkanna said that the state government was given a notice for an indefinite strike a year ago, but after holding talks with Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar and his assurances, they decided to wait till now.

He said that all the issues discussed with the high-level committee were previously discussed with the state government, alleging that it was only an attempt to delay things to put them in cold storage.

Delay in solving problems

Venkanna said that all 32 of their demands had been discussed for the last five years, for which successive governments assured a resolution.

“The merger of TGSRTC with the state government can be carried out by fixing an appointed date as the first day of next month. The entire process can be completed before then. The Pay Revision Commission, elections to the recognised RTC unions and several other pending issues can be resolved easily, and were part of their manifesto,” Venkanna said.

Suddala Suresh, one of the union leaders, appealed to all the bus drivers, conductors, technicians and all the RTC staff to not attend their duty at any cost, and said, “Aakhri dhakka, Vijayam pakka.”

Kathula Yadaiah called the committee a “time-pass committee,” and said that not a single demand of the workers was resolved.

The contentious demands

One of the demands of RTC workers was the implementation of the recommendations of 2 Pay Revision Commission (PRCs) since 2021, which would have resulted in an increase of their salaries.

Another was the appointment of workers under the corporation’s breadwinner scheme, from the families who have lost a worker on duty.

Kathula Yadaiah said that such appointed staff were being placed under ‘consultant pay,’ instead of directly under the corporation. He demanded that such appointees be recruited under direct recruitment and be given the regular pay scale.

4-member committee formed

Earlier in the day, the state government constituted a high-level committee of senior officers to examine the grievances of TGSRTC employees.

The four-member committee will be chaired by the Special Chief Secretary to the Government, Transport and Roads and Buildings Department. The other members are the Special Chief Secretary, Labour, Employment, Training and Factories Department, the Principal Secretary, Finance Department, and the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of TGSRTC, who will serve as member and convenor.