Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan is once again at loggerheads with the state government. She refused to clear the prestigious TSRTC bill passed by the State Assembly. She referred it to the Law Department for its opinion. Earlier, she kept the proposal pending without according to permission for the Assembly to pass till the last day.
Even after passing a unanimous resolution to merge the TSRTC and its over 43,000 employees into the government sector, Governor returned it along with four other bills as well. The State government on its part agreed to clarify all her doubts over the bills. A team of officials visited Raj Bhavan and explained in detail the important features of the bill and how it was aimed at benefitting the employees and the corporation. The bill was sent to Raj Bhavan on August 11. Now it was referred to Law Department for legal opinion which is likely to delay the process of the TSRTC merger with the government sector.
Earlier, scores of employees laid seize to the Raj Bhavan condemning the attitude of the Governor in according permission to Assembly to pass the bill. Now, once again they are forced to do the same. Telangana Mazdoor Union leader Thomas Reddy lamented the attitude of the Governor. The bill was passed by the democratically elected representatives and it could be just cleared by the Governor. The delay in doing so is delaying the process of the merger. This is resulting in the denial of TSRTC employees’ salaries through the government department.
It is not just the ruling BRS leaders who are vexed and unhappy with the Governor’s attitude, but the general public and leaders of other political parties were also deploring it. CPI state secretary K Sambasiva Rao demanded an explanation from the Governor for her delay in clearing the bills passed by the state Assembly. “The bills passed by the Parliament very recently are all transformed into Laws without any delay. The situation appears very strange in Telangana state,” he said.
The CPI leader further said the state government has sent names of candidates to be nominated as MLCs under the Governor’s quota long ago. But it was kept pending without giving any reason. There are other important bills such as the university recruitment board which are all either pending or sent back again. “Being in a constitutional post, one should act above the political considerations,” Mr Sambasiva Rao said.
By Gollapudi Srinivasa Rao