Violent incidents mark day 18 of RTC strike in Mahbubnagar

Mahbubnagar: The RTC strike on the day 18 witnessed some violent incidents in Gadwal and Narayanpet districts on Tuesday. Angered over the attitude of the State government, the RTC employees in Narayanpet district sat in front of the bus depot and did not allow the temporary drivers and conductors to enter the depot. They even took to manhandling the temporary staff for forcefully entering the depot.

The employees forcefully stopped the temporary drivers while they were taking out the buses from the depot and entered into an altercation with the temporary staff.

The police, who swung into action, stopped the striking employees from entering the bus depot and took them into custody and shifted them to the police station. Later, they cleared the way for the buses.

In Achampet of Nagarkurnool district, the RTC employees resorted to violence. When the temporary RTC drivers defied their directions not to take out the buses from the bus depot, the striking employees used force and broke the glasses of the buses and warned the temporary staff of dire consequences.

However, the police, who were stationed at the depot, stopped the striking employees from resorting to violence and sent the RTC buses back to the depot. In Kalwakurthy, the RTC employees received support from the CPI party State leader Tammineni Veerabhadrarm, who visited the camp of RTC employees and extended his support. State executive member of CPI John Wesley, Venkatesh and Balamallesh were also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Tammineni said that the demands of RTC employees were just and they were very much the rightful needs of the employees. He alleged that the State government was deliberately pushing the employees to take up strike and on that pretext, the government was planning to privatise the transport corporation. He said at any cost, the CPI party would not allow the State government to implement its designs and would work to fight to achieve the rights of RTC employees.

In Mahbubnagar, Wanaparthy and Gadwal districts also, the RTC employees staged protest and took out rallies and expressed their anger against Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for his adamant attitude and raised slogans against the government. They demanded the government to immediately hold talks with the RTC employees and resolve their issues lest they intensify the strike.

Former Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader DK Aruna and some of the senior leaders in Gadwal expressed their support to the RTC employees and demanded the State government to immediately call the RTC employees for talks.