RTC JAC decides to drop merger demand for now

Hyderabad: The stalemate between the Government and the RTC employees, who have been on strike for past 40 days, is likely to end soon as the TSRTC JAC on Thursday decided to take a step backward and put the demand for merger of the RTC with the government in abeyance.

The JAC, which met here on Thursday, announced that it was ready to hold talks with the government on the other 25 demands without pre-condition of merger. This issue can be discussed later, it felt.

This has now pushed the ball back into the court of the government. It may be mentioned here that the government has always been claiming that merger was not acceptable.

They had stated this in its affidavit to the court as well. In the backdrop of this situation, the JAC felt that keeping in view the problems being faced by the employees, it would be better to focus on other 25 demands first and postpone the demand for merger for later date.

The Chief Minister, who held a review meeting with officials including Chief Secretary S K Joshi to discuss the developments that took place in High Court on Wednesday and Thursday, is learnt to have felt that since the JAC has dropped the merger issue, the government could examine their demand for talks.

However, it may not announce its decision immediately since the matter was pending in the court. If the court once again asks the government about its willingness to hold talks, it may react positively.RTC JAC Convener Ashwathama Reddy addressing media after an all-party meeting at Employee Union office in Hyderabad. Senior Congress leader V Hanumanth Rao, BJP senior leader Jithender Reddy, Telangana Jana Samithi founder Prof Kodandaram are also seen