HYDERABAD: Both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governments vied with each other on Wednesday o please Road Transport Corporation employees, who were on strike for the past eight days.
If AP, after protracted talks with the striking unions, agreed to pay 43 per cent fitment to the employees, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao later went a step further and announced 44 per cent hike.
Though the APSRTC has not yet been divided between the two states, the talks for pay revision were conducted separately by both the governments. The assets, liabilities and staff of the corporation would be shared most likely by this month-end. The hiked salaries mean an annual additional burden of `960 crore on
Andhra’s RTC and `821 crore on Telangana’s RTC.
The AP Government would pay salary arrears for three months in two instalments from this month - the arrears would have to be paid for the period April 2013 to April 2015. The remaining balance of arrears would be paid to the employees at the time of retirement.
Its Telangana counterpart would pay half of the arrears in three instalments from October. The remaining 50 per cent arrears would be given in the form of five-year bonds.
“The 43 per cent fitment will put an additional burden of `960 crore and the arrears will put an additional burden of `1,200 crore on APSRTC,” AP Transport Minister Siddha Raghava Rao said.
The AP Government, however, ruled out an immediate tariff hike.
But Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao made it clear that there would be a marginal hike in fares in the state.
The APSRTC unions, however, failed to bargain with the government about the strike period salary and cases filed against them. “The Cabinet sub-committee will discuss these issues with the corporation and submit its report to the government,” AP officials said.