The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Death of RTC driver triggers protest

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 15, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Death of RTC driver triggers protest

Staff Reporter

KARIMNAGAR: Tension prevailed here on Thursday with RTC employees and family members of a deceased driver staging a dharna in the RTC bus station complex with his body.

Traffic came to a grinding halt for five hours in the town with RTC employees parking their buses haphazardly on roads.

The RTC employees said the two depot bus driver, M Jameel Ahmed (52), was about to go home after completion of duty on Wednesday evening when the authorities asked him to proceed to Hyderabad. When he refused, they threatened to serve a memo on him. The driver then proceeded to Hyderabad.

He lost control of the bus and hit a sand-laden lorry on the outskirts of Kodakandal in Gajwel mandal in Medak district. Ahmed died on the spot. An unidentified boy was also killed and 10 bus passengers were injured.

The RTC employees held the authorities responsible for the driver's death. They demanded payment of ex gratia and employment to a family member of the driver.

The CPI floor leader in the Assembly, Chada Venkat Reddy, the TDP leaders -- Gangula Kamalakar, Eda Shankar - and the BJP leader, Md Arif, expressed solidarity with the agitating employees.

Later, the Collector, C. Parthasarathi, and RTC officials held discussions with political leaders and union leaders to settle the issue amicably.

The police were deployed in strength in the RTC bus complex to prevent any untoward incident.

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Andhra Pradesh