Hyderabad, Apr 24 (PTI) “He was our only support. What will happen to us now?” said Latha, wife of Shankar Goud, a TSRTC driver who died by suicide during a corporation employees’ strike.
Latha told mediapersons at Muttojipet village in Warangal district on Friday that her husband had been worried over the strike.
Recalling the events on Thursday, when he set himself on fire at the Narsampet bus station where he worked, she said she had asked him to come home for food. However, he told her that food was being arranged at the protest site.
She said she had planned to join him when he returned home in the afternoon, but he asked her not to accompany him as the protest was related to the department.
A sobbing Latha said that when she called the bus station to inform his colleagues that he was distressed over the strike, they later informed her about his suicide attempt.
She questioned why the police and Road Transport Corporation (RTC) employees present at the spot could not save him.
Latha said the family does not own a house, which forced them to bring his body to their daughter’s residence.
“Since we do not own a house, we brought him to our daughter’s home. We have always lived in rented houses. When I told him that we should build a house, he said he would earn money and build one later,” she said.
Observing that her husband was the sole breadwinner of the family, she sought government support, including a job for her son.
She and RTC employees requested that Shankar Goud’s body be taken to the Narsampet bus station, where he worked, to enable colleagues to pay their last respects.
However, police initially refused, citing law and order concerns.
The request was later allowed, and the funeral was conducted in the village in the evening.
Goud’s daughter, Shalini, recalled that her father was due to retire in two years and had promised to divide his retirement benefits between her and her younger brother.
She said her parents had raised them with love and care while living in rented houses.
Goud’s colleagues recalled that he was “duty-minded and got along well with everyone.” They said Goud, who did not own a house, had been worried over the strike and working conditions, and pointed out that most staff belonged to middle- and lower-middle-class backgrounds.
Fondly remembering Goud as “Shankar Anna,” they appealed for ex gratia assistance, a government job for his son, and a house for the family.
Goud set himself ablaze by pouring petrol at the Narsampet bus station during a protest by RTC employees.
He suffered serious burns, was initially admitted to a state-run hospital in Warangal, and later shifted to a super-speciality hospital in Hyderabad for advanced treatment.
“He succumbed (to injuries) at about 1.30 am on Friday,” a senior official said.
Employees began their strike on April 22 in support of a charter of 32 demands, including the merger of RTC with the government. PTI VVK SJR SSK
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