Employees of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) on Saturday held a march to Raj Bhavan here demanding governor’s assent to a new draft Bill paving the way for the merger of the corporation with the state government.
The Bill is awaiting Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan for introduction in the monsoon session of the Telangana Legislative Assembly.
The Raj Bhavan, which had earlier suggested that the Bill was sent to her at the last minute and that the governor required more time to examine it, backtracked on its stand and is now asking TSRTC union leaders to discuss the matter with her through video conferencing.
The state government also provided a point-to-point clarification on the doubts raised by the governor on the legislation in the hope of expediting the process.
The state Cabinet had cleared the merger of 43,000 employees of TSRTC with the state government on 31 July. The draft Bill “The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (Absorption of Employees into Government Service) Bill, 2023 was then sent to the governor for her approval since the monsoon session of the assembly began on 3 August.
The session, the last before elections to be held in December, will be held only for three days. But yesterday a statement from the Raj Bhavan made it clear that the governor requires more time to examine the Bill and obtain legal opinion.
Indicating that it held the government responsible for the delay in sending the Bill to the governor, the statement read: “The Assembly was scheduled to meet on 03.08.23 and the draft Bill of “The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (Absorption of employees into government service) Bill, 2023 was received at Raj Bhavan, Hyderabad on 02.08.23 at about 3:30 pm only requesting for permission to introduce the same in Assembly.”
However, growing jittery over the delay, the RTC workers began dharnas in front of bus depots demanding that the Telangana governor should approve the Bill to merge the TSRTC with the government. They also participated in “Chalo Raj Bhavan rally” to put further pressure on the governor even as the general public was severely inconvenienced. The BRS has been accusing the governor of keeping key Bills pending in the past.
Dr Soundararajan, who was away in Puducherry, took to ‘X’ microblogging site to react to the development through her post: “I am pained to know about the strike conducted by RTC employees creating inconvenience to the common public… I want to convey that I am always with them. Even during the previous strike I was with them … now also I am studying it carefully because their rights should be safeguarded.”
Meanwhile, state Chief Secretary A Shanti Kumari, in a point-by-point clarification to the secretary of the governor pointed out that the proposed Bill provides only for absorption of the establishment of the TSRTC into government service. The nature of the corporation would not be changed only after the bifurcation issues are settled by the Centre. The governor also met with the union leaders via teleconference.
Meanwhile, commuters faced a harrowing time as there were no buses on roads. Moreover, due to the rally, there were huge traffic snarls at alternative routes as Necklace Road and the adjoining areas were shut down due to the rally of the RTC workers.