Hyderabad: There has been no new notification for recruitment of staff and workers in the TSRTC since 2012. But, in the last three years, about 3,000 workers and staff have retired from the corporation.When N. Kiran Kumar Reddy was the chief minister, RTC had issued a notification for filling 380 vacant driver posts. After the formation of Telangana State, 110 drivers were appointed, in 2015.
The managing director of TSRTC, G.V. Ramana Rao, said that TSRTC has sent a proposal to the government for filling 1,100 vacancies in phase-I and is awaiting a response. He says, “There is no shortage of conductors and we are allocating scheduled duties to women conductors.” While the RTC management claims that there is no shortage of conductors, unions demand to know how the management is managing additional services and new buses without new recruitments.
General secretary of the employees’ union of TSRTC, K. Raji Reddy, said that no conductor is doing just a single (shift) in rural areas. “If there is no shortage, why is the management insisting on additional shifts? Earlier, conductors who worked on long distance buses used to get three days rest. Why has the management reduced it to two days? Instead of filing the vacancies, the management is putting pressure on available staff,” he said.
He adds that the difficulties faced by women conductors is “leading to problems in their families.”He said in some cases that came to the notice of the union, depot managers are directing attendance authorities to mark the conductor absent if she reaches the office just 10 minutes late and lose one day's pay. "Losing pay is not an issue but after getting the pay slips, in two cases, the husbands of the conductors expressed doubt over their absence. Management should understand such issues," he said.
