Hanamkonda: Travellers in limbo

Travelers: With the TSRTC buses set to go off the roads from Friday midnight, the long-distance travellers looked jittery at Hanamkonda bus station. It may be mentioned here that the employees of the State-owned TSRTC are going on a strike demanding merger of the corporation with the government and pay revision.

While the RTC employees looked stubborn to go ahead with their strike, the RTC local administration is trying to rope in private players and retired staff to ensure smooth service on Bathukamma and Dasara, which fall on October 6 and 8. The TSRTC Warangal regional administration has already issued a circular to hire private buses, drivers and conductors. Meanwhile, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of RTC unions criticised the government for not obliging to their justifiable demands.

The JAC leaders alleged that the government has failed to resolve the long-pending demands including the merger of the TSRTC with the government, pay revision, job security, payment of dues and filling up of vacancies.

There are around 1,632 buses run by the RTC in the erstwhile Warangal district. These buses commute more than 10 lakh passengers every day. Meanwhile, those who made advance booking to their destinations have received cancellation of services message from the TSRTC.

TSRTC Warangal Regional Manager A Sridhar said: "We are ready to deal with the situation. The process is on to hire private buses and retired staff. The depot managers have been discussing with the private operators, school and college managements to cooperate with them in running buses on Bathukamma and Dasara festivals." He said that long distance bus services were cancelled as the staff refused to operate. Meanwhile, travellers at the bus station said that the authorities have not arranged a help desk to give them information about the bus services.