Stalemate over RTC ends, Governor okays Bill on merger

HYDERABAD: The stalemate over the Bill seeking to merge the TSRTC with the state government ended on Sunday after Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan gave consent to the state government to introduce it in the Legislative Assembly. The government introduced it soon after and the Assembly passed by a voice vote.

The Governor made 10 recommendations to the government, to which it responded positively. Among those was one that the ownership of land parcels, assets, and properties of the TSRTC should vest with the corporation and the government should give an explicit undertaking to that effect.

Speaking in the Assembly on Sunday, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao said he was unable to understand why the Governor sought so many clarifications and knowingly or unknowingly delayed a simple process. He rubbished the allegations that the government had planned the merger to sell RTC assets, which are located in prime urban areas.

Rao also allayed fears over the welfare of RTC employees and the safety of RTC assets after the merger. While he admitted that the BRS government was not in favour of a merger in 2019, it was compelled to do so now due to mounting losses suffered by the corporation. He said the State Cabinet discussed the issue at length on July 31, before taking the final decision.

“Diesel prices shot up from ₹60 per litre to over ₹100. This abnormal increase has adversely affected the revenue of RTC as it needs six lakh litres of diesel daily. The government has a social obligation towards its people to provide affordable public transport as common people are dependent on it for commuting every day. Hence, we decided to merge the corporation to make adequate Budget allocations to strengthen it further,” he said.

The Chief Minister reminded that the state government was already allocating ₹1,500 crore every year to TSRTC in the State Budget for its operations.

Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar, who introduced the Bill, said that the corporation would continue to operate under the administrative control of the transport, roads and buildings department, with the vice chairman and managing director as its head. Employees would be absorbed into public service as government employees and existing service rules of TSRTC would continue to remain in force until fresh rules are framed, he said.

He said that the state government would incur an additional burden of around ₹3,000 crore per annum due to the merger. He assured that the contract and outsourced workers would continue to render their services as per existing rules.

 

Governor says:

Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan made 10 recommendations to the state government to safeguard TSRTC’s interests.

Assets should be divided between TS and AP according to the AP Reorganisation Act

Government should assume liability of clearing its arrears to erstwhile APSRTC

Emoluments of RTC employees should be on the same scale as state government employees

Absorbed TSRTC employees should have the facility to request 'compassionate appointment' for family members

Disciplinary proceedings within the RTC are extremely stringent; they should be more humane and in tandem with the service rules of government employees

Benefits or RTC employees are ent on deputation to other departments should be protected

Contract and outsourced employees should be given similar benefits and salaries, according to state service rules as regular employees

Regular employees and contract employees of RTC, must receive the same health benefits of RTC hospitals and government-sponsored treatment up to a certain level, and insurance benefits, as government employees

The government should take over the maintenance of buses, etc