VIJAYAWADA: The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of AP State Road Transport Corporation (RTC) on Saturday maintained that they would go on strike after May 22 if the management failed to withdraw its decision to reduce the number of staff in various departments of the corporation. The JAC also added that it will not change the decision even if the management enforces Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) on the employees.
It may be mentioned here that the State government on Thursday issued an order prohibiting strikes in the corporation for six months. The JAC leaders said that they won’t step back fearing the orders issued by the government. In a press release issued here on Saturday, JAC convener P Damodar said that they are agitating over fulfilment of genuine demands of the employees. He also maintained that they were not in a position to yield to the government this time and will achieve their demands by going on strike after May 22.
Meanwhile, the YSRC said the party, if voted to power, will merge the corporation with the government and bring back the past glory of the RTC. YSRC spokesperson K Parthasarathi, at a press conference, said that TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, with an eye on the properties of the RTC, was making all-out efforts to destabilise the corporation so as to usurp its properties. “The RTC, which caters to the middle class and the poor, has been systematically destabilised by the Naidu government,’’ he alleged. Parthasarathi said the government did not take any step to decrease the MV tax imposed on the RTC and also recalled that the State is imposing the highest VAT on diesel and petrol which caused serious burden on the Corporation.
“The government is yet to pay crores of rupees to the corporation for running buses to Polavaram project tours, Dharma Porata Deekshas, Nava Nirmana Deekshas and other government programmes,’’ he said and added that Naidu, who conducts reviews on all issues, had conveniently forgot to review the functioning of RTC.
Countering the allegations of Parthasarathi that the TDP government had driven the APSRTC into losses, TDP leader and APSRTC chairman Varla Ramaiah on Saturday said the TDP government will soon make the RTC a profit-making corporation.
Ramaiah said the RTC, which is in `3,000 crore losses, needs a helping hand from the government. “We have already submitted a few proposals before the government and we are confident that Chandrababu Naidu will consider them positively,’’ he said.
Ramaiah said the proposals include waiver of `300 crore tax the RTC pays to Transport department as motor vehicle tax for 10 years, payment of `750 crore by the government to compensate the loss the corporation is incurring for running the `Telugu Velugu’ buses, `500 crore budgetary allocation to purchase new buses, `500 crore allocation for five years to clear pending dues and permission to increase bus fares by 7.5 pc every year. “We are hopeful that these proposals will be accepted by the CM and the RTC will run into profits,’’ he said.
APSRTC Fact file
Biggest PSU in the country
12,027 No. of buses
21,085 No. of drivers
18,427 No. of conductors
2,387 No. of mechanics
53,261 Total No. of employees