RTC has to immediately pay out Rs 2,210 crore, Govt tells Telangana HC
Hyderabad: The state government has informed the Telangana High Court that the strike-ridden Telangana State Road Corporation, which is grappling with financial issues must address its immediate and long-term liabilities.
Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi filed an affidavit before the High Court stating that in so far as immediate liabilities are concerned, the outstanding payments, including statutory payments, which TSRTC has to pay immediately, amount to Rs 2,209 crore.
He explained to the court that out of the Rs 2,209 crore, Rs 1,521.25 crore is towards employees’ salaries. In addition to the above liabilities, the TSRTC has incurred cumulative losses of Rs 5,269.25 crore as on August 31, 2019.
He asked that if the RTC continues to operate in losses like this, how are they going to service their outstanding loans to banks and other organisations? The unions are fully aware about it and cannot feign ignorance, the Chief Secretary added.
While terming the RTC workers strike as illegal, the Chief Secretary told the High Court that the attitude of the unions and contemptuous acts could be gauged from the fact that when it was well known that the Supreme Court will announce the Ayodhya verdict on November 9, and the country would be on high alert, the Joint Action Committee aggravated the situation by holding an agitation.
He asked that when the High Court has kept the hearing of the PIL on November 11, which was just four days from the last hearing, what was the hurry for the JAC to continue their programme of Chalo Tank Bund, when it is known that Hyderabad is a sensitive place and the police will be engaged in maintaining peace and harmony in the city?
He submitted that the RTC workers went ahead with their programme of Chalo Tank Bund, putting extreme strain on law and order machinery and playing with the security of people.
He said that the unions, knowing that RTC was in such a grave financial situation and that the strike would further deteriorate the financial health of the corporation, went ahead with the illegal strike against public interest, thinking that by deliberately causing inconvenience to the common man, the government will succumb to their pressures.
