TGSRTC strike ends after marathon talks; bus services set to resume

The TGSRTC employees’ strike ended after nearly 15 hours of talks with the Telangana government. With key issues addressed, bus services will resume from Saturday, bringing relief to lakhs of commuters affected by disruptions across Hyderabad and the State

Hyderabad: The prolonged strike by Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) employees came to an end after nearly 15 hours of intense discussions between the government and RTC Joint Action Committee (JAC) leaders. The breakthrough paves the way for the resumption of bus services across the State from Saturday morning.

Announcing the development, Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said the negotiations between Ministers, senior officials and RTC JAC representatives were successful, leading to the withdrawal of the strike. Employees have been asked to report back to duty from early morning, and all bus services are expected to operate normally.

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Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka, who led the talks, described RTC as a “family” and said the government had taken a sympathetic view of the workers’ concerns. He confirmed that several key demands were addressed through mutual discussions.

Among the major decisions, the government agreed to conduct long-pending recognition elections for RTC unions and directed the management to make necessary arrangements. A committee comprising officials and employee representatives will be formed to examine the decade-old demand for merger of RTC with the government.

On the wage front, the government announced an 11 per cent fitment under the Pay Revision Commission (PRC) after considering the financial position of RTC and the State. Other pending issues will be resolved through continued engagement between the management and workers’ unions.

The RTC JAC thanked Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka and Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar for responding positively to their demands. It also called upon employees to celebrate the outcome across depots.

JAC Chairman E Venkanna said the State government had heard all their requests and assured to fulfil them at the earliest through a right process.

“We thank the Ministers, officials, RTC management for their support and patient hearing of our problems. We hope our problems will be solved soon,” he said.

With the strike called off, relief is expected for lakhs of commuters who faced severe inconvenience over the past few days due to disrupted public transport services.