New Shivlal Nagar in Hyderabad’s Karwan remains fortified by a large contingent of police, fearing protests by agitating groups. The streets leading to Surender Goud’s house are crowded with scores of activists from different organisations and political groups, who raised slogans against the Telangana Chief Minister.
In the midst of the chaos and cacophony, 23-year-old Sankeerthan stands calmly next to his father’s dead body. His father, Surender Goud, a conductor with the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation, had killed himself on Sunday evening at his residence when his wife and son were not around.
44-year-old Surender was working as a TRSTC conductor for the past 15 years. However, he lost his job as he took part in the strike called by the TSRTC JAC. According to his family, he had been distressed for the past one week. “He was anxious and disturbed for the past week due to the ongoing crisis. But we would calm him down by assuring him that the crisis would be resolved soon,” Sankeerthan says politely.
Sankeerthan
Sankeerthan and his mother, Jyothi, both work to make ends meet for their family. While Sankeerthan works at a boutique store earning Rs 7,000 per month, his mother does tailoring work and earns Rs 100-150 per day.
“It was the fear of how to run a family without a job that put my father under extreme distress,” Sankeerthan says.
Surender, along with the 48,000-odd dismissed employees, did not receive his salary for the month of September. “We stay in a rented apartment, and I don’t have a steady job. I hardly make any money,” Sankeerthan says with a sense of guilt. He dropped out of Intermediate three years ago.
Recalling his father’s death, he says, “When I was leaving for work, he was a little worried about the ongoing strike. But my mother and I again told him to remain calm. Maybe after we left he must have watched the news and decided to take the extreme step.”
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Surender Goud
Sankeerthan is disappointed with the indifferent attitude of the government. The family demands compensation and a job for Sankeerthan. The government has not reached out to the family. However, Rajya Sabha MP K Keshav Rao through a statement on Monday appealed to the TSRTC employees to call off their strike and sort out their issues with the government through dialogue.
Meanwhile, politicians from all the opposition parties paid their respects to Surender and condemned the attitude of the government, which is firm on not re-hiring the TRSTC employees.
Speaking to the media, JAC convenor Ashwathama Reddy said that it was not suicide but government sanctioned murders. “The Chief Minister has not invited us for any talks,” he said, condemning the attitude of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Appealing to the employees, he said, “Suicide is not the solution. The entire state is supporting us. After ‘Sakala Janula Samme’ (protest during Telangana statehood agitation), this is the biggest protest in the state. I appeal to the employees… suicide is not the solution, we shall fight together and win.”
The TSRTC JAC has called for a state-wide bandh on October 19 and appealed to all unions and political groups to make it a success.