Hyderabad: Two drivers of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) died from massive heart attacks, precipitated by anxiety and depression arising out of the decision of the state government to fire them, and all others, who had participated in the strike, and after losing hoping of any positive and amicable resolution of the standoff.
In the first incident, a TSRTC driver died of a heart attack on Thursday after suffering from depression over the loss of his job last several days. The victim, identified as D. Komarayya, 57 years old, was working as a driver in the Chengicherla depot. Prior to his death, the driver was taking part in a protest rally from Chengicherla to the Uppal bus depot.
According to onlookers, he collapsed during the rally, after which he was shifted to the Aditya Hospital for treatment, where he was declared dead on arrival.
Members of the Telangana Jathiya Mazdoor Union allege that the body was not admitted into a government hospital in Tarnaka as the deceased was “no longer a working member of the TSRTC.”
In the second incident, an RTC employee passed away in Ramachandra-puram in the outskirts of the city. The victim was identified as Sheikh Khaleel Miya.
His son said, “my father was worried about how he would run a household without any credible source of income.”
Moinuddin, brother of deceased Khaleel, said that his brother had revealed to him that he was upset with the strike.
“He was worried about the ongoing strike. Yesterday, after he returned home from protest, he was very upset but he did not share many details when we asked him. Late that night, at around 1 am, he suffered a stroke and we rushed him to a hospital,” he said.
The Rachakonda Commissi-onerate dismissed the reports that D Komaraiah had suffered a stroke during the rally. The statement said that “Komaraiah had participated in the rally of TSRTC employees between 11 am and 12 noon. After the rally, he went to Chengicherla X-roads and then returned home. He suffered a stroke at 3 pm, while preparing lunch. He was taken to a hospital in Boduppal, and then shifted to another hospital in Uppal, where he was declared dead.”
Meanwhile, Dr. K. Laxman, president, Bharatiya Janata Party, voiced his support for striking RTC employees. He said that he had represented the issue to Governor, Dr. Tamilisai Soundarajan.
In his statement, Dr Laxman said, “It is highly upsetting that nearly 50,000 employees were removed from the rolls. The government must keep interests of both people and employees in mind before taking such a whimsical decision.”
In another development, to keep a check on prices of bus tickets, the RTC and police officials began conducting a random check of RTC buses.
“Today, when I checked some buses in the Narkatpally depot, I found that conductors were charging excessive fares. I took the rate chart from the conductor, (Mr Chary, DM, RTC was with me) and asked passengers randomly. To our dismay, we found for instance that Rs 250 was being charged from Hyderabad to Khammam, against an actual rate of `175,” said AV Ranganath, SP, Nalgonda. “From Bhuvanagiri to Nalgonda, they were charging Rs 10 more. We immediately arrested the conductors and cheating cases were registered against them.”
As more incidents and reports arrive from different parts of the state, the bus terminal at ECIL and Jubilee Bus Station wore a deserted look on Thursday. On a cursory glance, it was evident at ECIL that there weren’t any takers for buses in the city. Most stalls were empty, catering only to a few customers to make ends meet.
“Earlier, there would be so many customers that it became difficult to handle them over the counter. But, over the weekend, hardly anyone walks into my store,” said Mohan Das, a worker at Govind Mobiles, located opposite to the ECIL terminus. His customers, who mostly include intermediate college students, were away on Dasara holidays.
“When the government chose to remove so many drivers, they have thrown the future of thousands of families into jeopardy. Now, they want to hire private drivers, which is unconstitutional,” Nammala Krishna, president, Telangana Jathiya Mazdoor Union, Greater Hyderabad Region, told Deccan Chronicle.
Similar scenes were witnessed at the Jubliee Bus Station, where the traffic is usually chock-a-block due to the onslaught of buses entering and exiting the station.
“There is no particular way in which the buses used to move earlier, but now traffic seems to have cleared up,” said Pranay, a resident of West Marredpally.
