Stung by govt's obstinacy, JAC plans slew of protests

Hyderabad: After losing the hope of any positive response from the government to their demands, the Telangana RTC JAC announced a week-long action plan including 'Chalo Tank Bund' on November 9 and "Sadak bandh' (laying siege to all state and national highways) on November 5 across Telangana.

The JAC held a meeting here on Saturday and decided to intensify the ongoing strike by taking up dharnas in various forms in the next seven days. On Sunday, the striking RTC workers will organise " Palle Baata '' programme under which the temporary drivers and conductors will be requested to stop attending their duties in support of the fight against the State government on their demands mainly the merger of the RTC.

JAC leader Ashwathama Reddy said that all the RTC workers will stage a sit-in before the bus depots on November 4. All political parties and social organisations were requested to take part in the day-long dharna.

On the Sadak bandh day, 48,000 workers will sit on the roads and stop the vehicles movement at the important roads across the State.

Dharnas along with the workers' children and rallies by people's organisations will be held on November 6 and 7.

Before the day of holding big deeksha at Tank Bund, all the JAC leaders and political party representatives will visit the venue and make all necessary arrangements for the successful conduct of the deeksha.

Reiterating that no forces were mounting pressure to call off the RTC strike, the JAC leaders said that since the division of assets between APSRTC and TSRTC was pending at the Centre, the TS government's decision to privatise the corporation is legally not valid.