TSRTC staff want govt to start Covid treatment in RTC Tarnaka hospital

Hyderabad: Informing that 50 RTC employees were dead during the second wave and about 1,800 employees getting treated in various hospitals, the TSRTC unions wrote a letter to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao urging him to start Covid-19 ward in RTC Tarnaka hospital. They stated that they have decided to stage a protest on May 11.

The TSRTC unions including Employees Union, Staff Workers Federation, Bahujana Karmika Union, Bahujana Workers Union, RTC Udyogula Sangham leaders collectively wrote a letter to the Chief Minister. The union leaders wanted the government to start Covid-19 treatment with 100 beds in Tarnaka hospital of the Corporation. They said that even after repeated requests to convert the RTC hospital into a Covid-19 hospital, there is no response from the management. The employees are not in a position to pay the hefty medical bills of the private hospital, said EU leader Raji Reddy.

The union leaders demanded the government to provide reimbursement to the employees, who have undergone treatment in private hospital and also to provide Rs 50 lakh as compensation to the families of deceased employees. They wanted the government to direct the management to provide 21 days of special casual leave to the employees, who are affected with Covid-19. They wanted the management to provide sanitizers, masks and face shields to the RTC drivers and conductors, making available corona kits along with oximeters in all the dispensaries of the corporation. Treating the RTC employees as front line warriors and providing vaccines to them, providing isolation facilities at training college in Hakimpet and also issuing orders to maintain 50 per cent occupancy in RTC buses.

Meanwhile, the unions have given a call for protest with black badges in the depots on May 11.