With no signs of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) strike on October 5 being called off, transport officials in the state are trying to rope in private bus owners and drivers to ensure smooth service on Dasara, which falls on October 8. This is after two rounds of talks between the nine unions and the state government failed, with barely 24 hours left for the strike to begin.
The corporation has written to depot managers to hire private bus owners and ensure that they hire their drivers and conductors. The corporation is even making a database of all contractual and casual employees in the RTC so that their service would be availed during the strike. The children of the staff and retired employees of the RTC have also come forward as volunteers. The RTC has also requested the Road Transport Offices (RTOs) to provide them with a list of all eligible drivers of heavy passenger vehicles with a minimum of 18 months experience.
The nine unions had made 26 demands, but the state government-appointed panel sought more time to discuss the issue of merger of RTC with the state government and requested the unions to call off the strike. The panel assured the unions that a report stating the issues would be readied, "We asked them to tell us when this report would be ready but the committee isn't even giving itself a deadline," said Thomas Reddy, TSRTC JAC co-convenor.
The union members also expressed concern over the state possibly hiring private bus drivers as an alternative. "It’s very unfortunate that they called for private bus drivers, endangering the safety of lakhs of people who want to travel for holidays. Can the government vouch that these drivers and operators are good enough for the job?" said another member of the TSRTC JAC to TNIE.