TSRTC strike: Another worker commits suicide

Another TSRTC driver allegedly committed suicide on Wednesday in Mahabubabad district as the indefinite stir by the employee' unions entered the 40th day. A Naresh (45), consumed a poisonous substance at his house in the wee hours and was rushed to a hospital where he died without responding to treatment, police said.

Scores of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC)workers along with members of some political parties took out a funeral procession from the hospital to the RTC depot raising slogans against the TRS-led government. The protesters forcibly removed the barricades put up by police on the arterial road, and staged a protest with the body at the depot, they said.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Naresh took the extreme step apparently "upset" over the ongoing strike. Nearly 48,000 employees of the corporation have been on an indefinite strike from October 5 across Telangana, demanding merger of RTC with the government transport department, pay revision, among others.

Taking a tough stand on the strike, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had said under no circumstances would the RTC be merged with the government. Terming the stir as "illegal," he had said it caused immense inconvenience to the public.