The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Agitation puts paid to RTC tender process

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Saturday, Jan 26, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Agitation puts paid to RTC tender process

Special Correspondent

Bidders fail to turn up as JAC of RTC employees unions stage a four-hour protest

HYDERABAD: A four-hour-long agitation outside the Jubilee Bus Station by members of the Joint Action Committee of APSRTC employees unions and the absence of bidders resulted in a tender opening notification going waste on Friday.

The corporation had earlier notified the outsourcing of some works pertaining to Schedule One of daily maintenance of buses and electrical works and called for tenders. Those interested were asked to put in their bids between 10.30 a.m. and 2 p.m., and the bids were scheduled to be opened at 2.30 p.m. However, not a single party turned up to put their bids, rendering the process null and void.

The Joint Action Committee comprised members of the Employees’ Union (EU) affiliated to the Indian National Trade Union Congress, Staff & Workers’ Federation (SWF) affiliated to the Centre for Indian Trade Unions, Karmika Sangh and Karmika Parishad. They had announced an agitation with intent to stall the tender process on Friday.

‘A success’

JAC convener and general secretary APSRTC EU K. Padmakar and City JAC convener and SWF zonal secretary A. Venkateswarlu termed the agitation a success and said with this boost, they would scale up their agitation to face any decision of the management that would jeopardise workers’ interests.

Free and fair

When asked, Executive Director (Hyderabad Zone) C. Panduranga Murthy said all they could do was to create a free and fair atmosphere and facilitate those who wanted to put in their bids.

“In the process, we took enough precautions drafting our own security personnel and enlisting the services of the city police. We did prevent the agitators from entering the bus station, but no bidder turned up,” he said.

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