HYDERABAD: The TSRTC unions have consistently been pointing out that the demands for merger of TSRTC with the government are not new. A document that surfaced online recently shows that the merger demand dates back to as early as October 2013. The document, a GO from the transport, roads and buildings department of united Andhra Pradesh, highlights that based on the request of recognised unions for the merger of APSRTC with the government, the State had appointed a committee to make suitable recommendations. The panel also aimed at formulating financial strategies.
The committee, formed on 11 October 2013, had members from the R&B, the APSRTC and the unions, convened by the executive director of the Corporation. It was asked to submit a report within 100 days of being constituted. However, nothing came of the report as the State was soon bifurcated, said union members. “In 2013, the merger was one of our major demands. However, the State was bifurcated and we put in all our efforts to fight for the same,” said a senior TSRTC JAC leader Thomas Reddy.
Post this, the demand for merger died down. It was reignited in 2018 after TSRTC unions were forced to wait for a whole year for their pay revisions. The pay revisions, which were due in April 2017, have not been given till now. The revisions, coupled with the need for hiring in the TSRTC and the waiver of diesel taxes, ignited another round of protests in May 2018. The government then decided to form a Cabinet sub-committee comprising the deputy chief minister, ministers Harish Rao and KT Rao, among others. However, the reports of this committee were also not made public.
Close on the heels of the said panel, the TSRTC formed another committee with experts on public transport from various corporations. This expert committee, formed in August 2018, aimed at examining the nitty-gritties of the financial set-up of the RTC. This report too was not made public. The most recent committee came up in October 2019 just before the ongoing strike. However, it was dismissed after the strike began. The discontent among RTC workers brewed over time as none of the recommendations of the committees were used.
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