The New Women In Red: Telangana Lady Conductors Get New Uniforms

HYDERABAD: Woman conductors in Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) will soon be seen in new cherry red or maroon coloured uniforms, a choice which they had made  at the end of 2019 and as per orders given by the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao after the TSRTC s as per the order given by the CM KCR.

Women conductors will perform duties on RTC buses wearing these coats. As per reports, TSRTC has recently purchased 30,000 meters of fabric from Raymonds‌ Company for the 4,800 women conductors working in the department. Each conductor is supplied with a cloth suitable for making two aprons. They have to sew  it according to their measurements and wear it while on duty.

After a record long strike by the TSRTC employees in 2019 ended, KCR held a friendly meeting with them at Pragathi Bhavan to discuss various issues about their welfare. Several assurances were given to them based on what they go to know from talking directly with employees on various topics. One of them was to give new uniforms especially to female conductors.

For this, a committee was also set up to decide what colour the apron should be. The members of that committee took the views of women employees across the State.

 As per the suggestions, most of them wanted maroon/cherry red coloured fabric. The Telangana Government decided to purchase the fabric from Raymonds for ensuring better quality of the fabric. It was estimated that for more than 4,000 women conductors, 30,000 meters of fabric was required to sew two aprons, which would cost Rs 60 lakh.

However, it was difficult for the RTC to allocate internal funds, as there was not enough money for paying salaries. After a period, there was an increase in the bus fares and the RTC's daily revenue increased by nearly Rs 2 Crore. But after that the Coronavirus pandemic started, which further delayed the purchase of the cloth.

Finally, after one year the TSRTC finally bought the cloth as there was an increase in the revenue in the past ten days. Usually apart from the cloth, the RTC also pays for uniform stitching. However, the authorities are expected to give only the fabric in light of the current financial difficulties.

TSRTC has a tradition of giving two pairs of uniforms every three years. Officers take disciplinary action if s/he attends duty without a uniform. With this, the employees bear that cost out of their own pocket. This time around, the new uniform will be only given to women and not the male conductors.