Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Friday night is said to have given his nod to senior officials of the road transport department to initiate steps to hold talks with the leaders of the RTC joint action committee (JAC) to reso-lve their crisis and look into the workers’ demands.
Mr Chandrashekar Rao held a review meeting with senior officials of the transport department, along with minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar, in the wake of the HC’s instructions to the RTC managing dire-ctor. The court directed the RTC MD to find out an amicable solution to the demands of employees and to take measures to get the strike called off given the increasing woes of the public due to disruption of public transportation across the state.
Sources said Mr Rao told officials that they should invite the JAC leaders and inform them that the government was prepared to accept all their demands wherein financial constraints were not involved.
CM says he is sympathetic to RTC
Those issues which have financial implications could be resolved after constituting a committee and deliberating with union leaders. The government and unions could prepare a road map to solve issues in phases, based on the financial position of the corporation and government.
Sources said that the merger of RTC involves several issues. Dropping it for now would remove a roadblock in taking forward the negotiations. The court had indicated that issues which would increase the financial burden have to be solved through negotiations.
As the court put sought a submission on October 28 of the outcome of these deliberations, the Chief Minister asked officers to put forth all proposals before trade union leaders and appeal to them to withdraw their strike.
Mr Rao is said to have told authorities that the government was sympathetic towards the issues of the RTC staff who played a crucial role in the statehood agitation. But, the time and circumstances of the strike caused much worry and embarrassment to the government. If the unions stress on merger, it would become a hurdle for talks.
