Retired RSRTC employee commits suicide by jumping before train

A retired employee of the Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation (RSRTC) allegedly committed suicide on Tuesday by jumping in front of a moving train near the civil lines railway crossing here, police said.

Virendra Nath Bhargav, who retired from the roadways' Vaishali Nagar depot in Jaipur in January this year allegedly took the extreme step this morning, they said.

Police said the reason behind the suicide was yet to be ascertained but the roadways employees' union said Bhargav might have taken the step after undergoing depression due to non-release of the retirement benefits.

The Roadways employees are already on strike demanding wages as per seventh pay commission, and release of retirement benefits among others. The union has alleged that he might have been depressed because his retirement benefits was not released.

"He occasionally visited the dharna venue to meet staffers. His retirement benefits were also due. This could be the reason of the suicide," Kishan Singh Rathore, general secretary of Rajasthan roadways workers' union (CITU), said.

He said the employees are on strike since September 17 with their demands and all the 4,716 buses are off road.

"We have been demanding implementation of seventh pay commission, new recruitment among others and all the buses are off road. The roadways is suffering revenue loss of nearly 5 crore daily due to the strike but the government is adamant and not paying any heed to end the deadlock," he said.