HMR Red Line operations under stress as talks with striking ticketing staff fail
HMR management, which initially issued a stern warning to agitating contract employees over the issue of hike in wages, later softened its stand in a bid to end their protest
- City News
NewsTAP Bureau- Updated On:4 Jan 2023 8:30 AM GMT
HYDERABAD: The talks between the striking Red Line ticketing contract employees and their contracting agency failed to yield any positive results on Tuesday. The Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) management, which initially issued a stern warning to agitating contract employees over the issue of hike in wages, later softened its stand in a bid to end their protest and ensure restoration of smooth ticketing process. As part of this, the contracting agency of the ticketing employees initiated talks with the agitating staffers.
The agency reportedly tried to persuade the contract ticketing employees of the Red Line to first end their strike while promising to take a decision on their demand for a pay hike very soon. The employees on the warpath however refused to relent. They maintained that they were ready to end their demonstrations but would resume duties only after their salaries were hiked.
With the two sides sticking to their respective stand, the preliminary round of talks ended as a failure.
Meanwhile, the HMR management has been running the Red Line services with the limited ticketing staff available on hand.
The Red Line of the Hyderabad Metro Rail is operated between LB Nagar and Miyapur and traditionally attracts a lot of traffic throughout the day. The HMR works with about 350 employees in the key ticketing wing of the Red Line on a daily basis. Almost 300 employees out of this workforce boycotted their duties as part of their strike to press for an increase in their salary.
