Another Telangana RTC staffer ends life
By Newsmeter Network
Hyderabad: It has been 24 days since the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) employees have gone on strike. There have been two suicides and eight deaths till date. The Telangana government and the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) management have avoided addressing the issues of the protesting employees. Besides, the staff have not received their September salary. As their future is uncertain, this is forcing the protesting employees to take extreme steps.
In a fresh incident, a woman conductor Neeraja from Khammam district allegedly committed suicide on Monday.
This is the second incident in the district, and third in the state, since the employees went on strike from October 5. So far, at least eight employees have died of cardiac arrest, as they were upset over the non-payment of salaries and worried about their future. Several employees have attempted suicide also, but their attempts were foiled.
In a most disgraceful and unfortunate scene, Police and Protestors jolted to get the dead body of #TSRTC conductor #MissNeeraja who committed suicide, on Monday. #RTCstrike pic.twitter.com/QMYiHYyMOS
ā NewsMeter (@NewsMeter_In) October 28, 2019
"Shocked at the way the police and RTC employees have treated the body of the RTC conductor, this is disrespectful," said Sagar Goud
Neeraja, a resident of Khammam town, is working as a conductor at the Sattupalli depot in the district. She has been actively participating in the strike from the beginning. As Sunday was a holiday, she went to her native village Nelakondapalli in the district.
On Monday, she was found hanging. Her colleagues blamed the government for pushing her to take this extreme step. Khammam JAC leader K. Hanumanthu Mudiraj in a statement said that Neeraja ended her life as she was upset with the comments of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao about the organisation and the employees.
They staged a rasta roko on the Khammam Rajahmundry highway for close to two hours. Traffic came to a standstill on the busy highway.
