Tiff over Re 1 cost Telangana govt Rs 1 crore

An unusual reaction from the road transport corporation management and a flash revolt by its staff union over a petty dispute over Re 1 change has cost the RTC Rs 1 crore. That aside, the strike put lakhs of commuters in trouble.
The series of incidents triggered off when RTC conductor Ratna Kumari of Uppal depot in Hyderabad was transferred out to another depot following a complaint lodged by a woman passenger that the former refused to give her Re 1 change and even abused her for insisting on it.The RTC management got the complaint enquired into and found Ratna Kumari guilty. The transfer orders were served on her on Sunday by depot authorities when she reported for work.
Soon, Telangana RTC Mazdoor Union (TMU) offered support for Ratna Kumari and called for a 'lightning strike'. As many as 973 buses in eight depots did not hit roads till the management rolled back its decision at 3 pm on Monday.
The union leadership argued that it is the responsibility of the passengers to tender exact change.
"Employees of 23 specified public service organisations including police and RTC are protected against assault by public while on duty. But, the passenger in this case abused the conductor for not giving change," the union argued declaring that the strike would continue till the conductor's transfer is cancelled.
The employees said the management in such circumstances would serve a memo on the conductor but this time had resorted to the drastic action of punishing her with transfer. According to union leaders, Ratna Kumari offered her apologies to the conductor but the authorities were not relenting.
RTC Uppal depot manager N Saraswati said management had the discretion to take action but it cannot be on dictated terms. The complaint by passenger, Sarita, that she was denied change and that the conductor had pulled her by her plait proved true.
Ratna Kumari said, "There were only 12 passengers who bought tickets and the others had passes in my Medipally-Afzalgunj service on Aug 10. Since it was our first trip, I did not have change. I went on clearing whenever I got change. But, this passenger kept cribbing for long and passing comments that RTC staff had grown arrogant."
According to the depot manager, the revenue loss on account of the strike was Rs 1 crore as over 170 buses remained off roads on Sunday and 973 buses the next day.