The Telangana government sacked over 48,000 employees of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) on Sunday over an indefinite strike.
The striking workers had refused to end their two-day protest by the government’s deadline of 6 pm on Saturday, following which the state Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao sacked them and ruled out any negotiation with the sacked employees.
“It is an unpardonable crime that they went on a strike during the festive season and at a time when the TSRTC was incurring a huge loss of Rs. 1,200 crore and its debt burden had gone up to Rs. 5,000 crore,” he said.
Nearly 50,000 employees and workers of the road transport corporation had been on strike since Friday midnight, with a list of 26 demands including the merger of the corporation with the government so that they become government employees and are entitled to benefits that accrue to them.
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Meanwhile, Trade bodies of TSRTC will challenge the state government’s decision, as and when they are served with dismissal or suspension notices, a union leader said on Monday.
Also, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Telangana RTC employees and workers’ unions called for a huge rally at Indira Park in Hyderabad on Monday to protest against the alleged dictatorial attitude of the government in crushing their strike.
However, the Hyderabad police declared that the rally was illegal and no permission would be given.