On the 28th of October, a Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) employee committed suicide.
Neeraja, a bus conductor belonging to the Sathupally bus depot, allegedly committed suicide in Khammam. According to her family, Neeraja committed suicide by hanging herself to death. The reason behind her extreme step is the ongoing TSRTC strike, which started on the 5th of October.
The TSRTC went on an indefinite strike on the 5th of October against the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS.) The reason for the strike is the pending demands of the TSRTC employees, including the merging the TSRTC with the Telangana Government. However, K. Chandrashekar Rao, the Chief Minister of Telangana, refused to accept the employees’ demands and deemed the strike nonsensical and illogical.
As many as 50,000 employees were suspended and fired from their duties due to the protest.
Neeraja is not the only one who lost her life due to the ongoing dispute between the State Government and the Joint Action Committee (JAC.) There are many such TSRTC employees who took their lives.
Neeraja’s death acted as a fuel amongst the TSRTC employees. They blocked the vehicles entering the Sathupally depot and shouted slogans against the State Government.
The JAC leaders even staged a protest outside the Collectorate’s offices in Sathupally, Telangana. Opposition leaders and other union leaders also extended their support in the protest and sat outside the Collectorate’s office with Neeraja’s body.
The Telangana Police deployed police personnel to control the situation and detained many TSRTC protestors and staff.
With this incident of Neeraja committing suicide, the TSRTC strike is expected to continue for a long time. On the 28th of October, the TSRTC strike entered its 23rd day.
Stay tuned for further updates.
