SMU workers started a strike at Tirupathi from the early morning on Friday.

All the workers said that the reason for strike is because of the illegal activities that are continuously taking place in the RTC and also there are severe harassment related activities on ladies in several depots

Especially most of the workers are pointing out RM Maheshwara whose behavior and attitude is hurting a lot for the several employees over there from the past few days. It was heard that all of them warned him many times about the behavior and asked to stop all those activities but he is in no way to listen to them and acting in his own way.

Due to the strike, 1500 buses were left completely in the 14 depots itself and due to this, the devotees who have come from distinct places are suffering a lot.

Particularly, the devotees who have come all the way from very long and are supposed to travel from Tirupathi to Tirumala are facing problems severely and it is known most of the foreign tourists too visit Tirupathi now and then. The strike started at 3am on Friday and all such foreign devotees too are left with no option other than to choose autos or other private vehicles.

As a part of the strike, Alipiri National Mazdoor Union workers started strike at Alipiri depot too.

From the other side, RTC RM Maheshwara said that they are acting according to the workers and are trying to convince them quickly keeping in mind the problems faced by the devotees who have come from across the world. He also added, without proper consultations, strikes like this is not appreciable.