Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee calls upon govt to initiate talks

Hyderabad: Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee (CLMC) expressed its grave concern over the ongoing indefinite strike of RTC employées and the callous stubborn attitude of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. CLMC extended its support to the strike as the RTC employees launched the strike because of the long pending demands for many years.

In a press statement on Thursday, CLMC general secretary Lateef Mohammed Khan stated that the State government should deal with the strike on humanitarian basis, but instead, the Chief Minister dismissed the 48,000 odd employees which was not just cruel but also unconstitutional and illegal.

The CM completely failed to deal with the employees who were on strike and he was using unlawful tactics such as mass dismissals and arrests, which was totally undemocratic, and it reflected the autocratic nature of CM. Though he served has labour minister in the Central government, it was unfortunate that he was not able to understand his own state's employees' problems and grievances.

While strongly condemning the attitude of the Telangana government, Lateef stated that it was the duty of the government to address the issues of the employees and solve their problems by initiating a dialogue process and to make sure that common people did not suffer, but unfortunately the government failed to do so.

The CM was not at all concerned about his employees and was trying to escape from his responsibilities just by extending holidays for schools and colleges and threatening other government employees not to support the RTC striking employees, he said.

The general secretary demanded that the State government act with responsibility and to come forward and initiate talks with employees and fulfil their demands. The CLMC appealed to the RTC employees not to become a victim of anxiety and not to sacrifice their lives in vain but to continue to fight for justice and their legitimate rights.