Not sure whether it is an upcoming GHMC election sop… or a change in the thinking of KCR, but this is definitely a piece of good news for TSRTC employees. Also, he had announced a pay hike of Rs 3,000 for the GHMC employees for Diwali and later announced the good news to provide pending salaries to TSRTC workers.
Chief Minister KCR decided to bring back the RTC on track, which had faced losses in wake of the corona and also to pay fifty per cent salary of RTC workers immediately. The CM directed Finance secretary Ramakrishna Rao to release Rs 120 Crore. The CM has decided to increase bus services in Hyderabad city by 50 per cent. The CM also discussed the modalities of providing job security to RTC workers.
A high-level review meeting on RTC chaired by CM KCR was held at Pragathi Bhavan on Sunday. The CM clarified that though Corona caused hardships to the RTC, the incentives provided by the government would help it fall back on track. The CM said, “The Telangana government has been protecting public sector undertakings irrespective of the hardships faced. The Telangana government has also opposed the recent attempts of private participation in the power sector. Moreover, the government regularized thousands of power contract employees and also protected dependent families. On the other hand, the central government is privatizing the public sector companies, including LIC.
I will save the RTC as long as I live
The Telangana CM said that he will not sleep until the RTC is put back on track, as there are a large number of dependent families, including employees in the organisation. In addition, the RTC is the cheapest mode of transport for the poor. For these reasons, the government wants to protect the public transport system, without taking into consideration the profit and loss.
Impact of own vehicles on RTC
Officials have informed CM KCR about the significant decline in the occupancy ratio of the RTC since a few months, due to an increase in the use of personal vehicles due to corona fears. This has led the RTC to incur losses. In order to tackle this, the CM directed the authorities to take appropriate decisions so that the TSRTC could be back on the track. The CM said that the cargo services introduced in the RTC were greatly appreciated by the people. The CM hoped that the RTC would also reap the benefits of cargo services, similar to that of the railways in the future. The CM expressed happiness over RTC’s record of transporting one million parcels and congratulated the Telangana Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar.
Increase in bus services in the city
Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar said that the recent talks with the Andhra Government following KCR’s instructions, helped TSRTC get increased bus services. “Every organization is coming back on track post corona conditions. People are getting out. The public sector, such as hotels and Dhabas, are reopening. Traffic is gradually increasing. In this context, the CM directed the officials to discuss in-depth policies that should be adopted if the people are to re-adopt the RTC. The CM directed the authorities to increase the number of buses in Hyderabad City to ensure transport to and from Hyderabad from the districts and to increase bus services in Hyderabad by 50 per cent,” Puvvada Ajay Kumar said.
PRC, DA Wanted
RTC union leaders and workers expressed different opinions over KCR’s announcement on the payment of salaries. RTC employees want the government to declare wage revision and DA. What they want is not the salaries that were pending at the time of Corona but the wage revision and DA. They blamed that to avoid the wage revision and DA the government was playing all these gimmicks.
