2 RTC staffers end lives, turn martyrs: Driver succumbs; Conductor hangs himself

Hyderabad: An RTC conductor in the city committed suicide hours after an RTC driver succumbed to his self-immolation attempt at a city hospital on Sunday
While D. Srinvas Reddy died at the DRDO Apollo Hospital, TSRTC employee B. Surender Goud committed suicide in the evening. The 48-year-old was working with the Ranigunj Depot-2.

Quoting from his family members, a Kulsumpura police official said Goud had borrowed money to construct a house. The salaries of RTC staff have not been paid this month, and Goud’s EMI cheque bounced.

Depressed by this and the prospect of being sack-ed from the RTC, Goud committed suicide, the officer said. He committed suicide by hanging. His family members noticed him and shifted him to Mythri Hospital where he was declared brought dead. His body is being shifted to the Osmania General Hospital for post-mortem.

RTC driver Srinivas Reddy had died earlier on Sunday. He had doused himself with petrol and set himself on fire in support of the ongoing strike.

His dying declaration was recorded by a magistrate. In it, he said he took the extreme step due to the government’s decision to dismiss striking RTC staff.

Srinivas Reddy, of Vastavai in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, lived with his family in Khammam and was a driver with the Khammam RTC. After attempting suicide, Srinivas Reddy repo-rtedly said at a Khammam hospital on Saturday that the sacrifice of his life was for the betterment of striking RTC employees.

Srinivas Reddy’s suicide attempt left him with about 90 per cent burns. He was rushed to a private hospital in Khammam and was later shifted to Apollo DRDO Hospital in the city.

As word spread of his death, hundreds of striking RTC employees rushed to Kanchanbagh to pay their respects, and tension prevailed at the hospital.

Cops stop RTC protesters at hospital gate
The Hyderabad police deployed a large number of personnel to prevent the striking workers from entering the hospital. The employees staged their protest in front, demanding that Reddy’s body be shifted to Bus Bhavan at RTC crossroads. Police barricaded the area and took 86 employees into preventive custody at different stations.

Doctors from Osmania General Hospital were called to Apollo Hospital for the postmortem. His body was then handed over to his family and escorted by police to Khammam.

Congress Malkajgiri MP A. Revanth Reddy paid a visit to the hospital and consoled the family. He told the media that during the Telangana statehood movement five years ago, Srikantha Chary’s death had propelled the movement till a separate state was achieved. Srinivas Reddy’s death at the same hospital would create a similar movement in the state to support the RTC employees.

“Srinivas Reddy gave a dying declaration that calling the RTC employees as self-dismissed created chaos in their lives. So he attempted suicide,” said Mr Revanth Reddy. “A case should be registered against responsible persons based on the dying declaration.”

Kanchanbagh inspector J. Venkat Reddy said the dying declaration will be shared with the Khammam police which is investigating the case.