APS(T)RTC the prime transportation service which runs more than 10,000 buses with 50,000 workers in Telangana called off 28 day long strike. Leaders of RTC Joint Action Committee made the announcement Saturday night after the Telangana Joint Action Committee, which is spearheading the movement for separate Telangana state, exempted RTC from the ongoing "people's strike" in the region stating that JAC stated that they had taken the decision in view of the inconvenience to people.

JAC stated that they had taken the decision in view of the inconvenience to people – did it take 28 days for learned professors to realize that striking or stopping common man's commute causes "inconvenience"?;

Impact of unreasonable T-RTC Strike?

RTC DIRECT LOSSES:

It is roughly estimated that RTC has about Rs. 8Crore loss due to the strike per day which lead into close to Rs.250 Crores in terms of direct losses to RTC. Imagine how many poor students, poor families can be helped with this money?

ECONOMIC LOSS TO STATE, COUNTRY and FARMERS:

In addition to above losses, RTC Strike disrupted the state, national economy and the daily livEs of commuters for 28 days. The effect on both commuters and the economy is very high. Daily laborers, Workers, employees, women, small time vendors, patients and students all had great difficulty getting to and from their places of work or study. The stoppage has also had a negative impact on supplies reaching the markets.

Produce markets were also badly hit by the strike, with prices surging as demand outstripped supply. The disruption interfered with the supply of fruit and vegetables to the market, where demand amounts to nearly thousands of tonnes per day. Many farmers were struck with vegetables unable to move to market there by rotting in the field and the consumer (common public) suffered without proper vegetables & daily meal. The RTC strike jeopardized many beyond explainable words.

COMMON MAN SUFFERING:

A common man uses state road transportation (>70% of public) which is majority. The most severe impact was felt by common man i.e. those transit commuters who had no cars, no bikes in the household; it is estimated that more than 35% of these commuters are involuntarily forced to stay back home from work during strike. Most attempts to mitigate the impact of the strike had little effect, largely could be because the political leaders seems not know how a common man suffers without transportation and termed it simple as " inconvenience"! Most commuters were able to manage adequately during the strike using shared autos, pooling and drop-offs to offices again this respect the most suffered are poor people who couldn't afford shared autos with exorbitant price hike) and laborers who can afford to use only bus transportation as well as students

Strike imposed severe economic and lot of hardship on those who have no other means of transportation for getting to work. Those who are fortunate enough to have access to an automobile for getting to work had several traffic jams and parking problems.

Public transport strikes impact upon the perceived reliability of public transport services. Moreover, the traveller's most preferred alternative is removed from the choice set. The traveller is forced to make up his mind about his preferences;

It is high time Political leaders think not just from their vested interests but also from common public and force suffering on people. Unless it is a face saving statement or may be because the political leaders & their immediate families never had a need/depend upon, to use RTC buses hence it took 28 days for them to call off this strike....

ACHIEVEMENT!! – MODERN WAY OF EXPLOITING POOR:

Poor became poorer; Suffering increased multi fold; No food for daily laborers, started going back to their villages; Patients suffered; Endless ordeals for a "common" man....

"All gains to political leaders who called this strike – power, show of strength, proving their point!"

Consensus Realization – Excellent Efforts

Earlier this week, a section of RTC employees had called off the strike, following which about 30 percent services had resumed, especially in Hyderabad and Khammam districts. All credit should go to APCC Chief and minister of transportation, Mr. Botsa Satynarayana, who first convinced one section of RTC employees to call off strike by explaining how it is impacting poor people's day to day life as well as RTC employees who too are not at the high end of earnings.

By opening an honest dialogue with union representatives to reach a consensus there by helping public to get back to normalcy, Botsa brought unions to table their grievances. NMU, a recognized union of APSRTC, has accepted the appeal of Road Transport minister Botsa Satyanarayana and called of the strike for Telangana. They said that they have considered public suffering and have made the decision. Trade unionists were divided in the wake of these efforts. Some (NMU) called off their strikes, while others vowed to go on with them until the center leadership steps in. In a bid to calm the situation, Botsa and several leaders met union representatives and promised to look into their grievances requesting them to realize the impact of unwanted RTC strike and its great impact causing suffering to common public.

Botsa proved himself as a seasoned politician and practical problem solver, by making sure 'even' the announcement of strike call off is not projected as a victory or loss to any political section including JAC!!!!.

Our heartiest Congratulations to Botsa and all the leaders who have seen the suffering of people in pragmatic view and made unions to call of strike.