HYDERABAD: Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar said that the State was firm in its decision of not merging the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) with the government.
The minister, while addressing the media on Saturday, said that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar had promised to increase the salaries of RTC workers on par with the State government employees and claimed that it had been delivered.
He gave out details of an RTC employee with five years of experience earning about Rs 30,000 per month. He also said that the TSRTC employees were given a fitment of 44 per cent on par with the State government employees when the expectation was just of 20 per cent.
Stating there was no change in stance regarding the sacked employees, he also blamed the TSRTC employees for not being concerned about people of the State and initiating the strike during the Dasara festival.
He termed the strike illegal and said that the TSRTC union leaders went ahead with the strike even before the completion of conciliation procedure.
He said that the workers went ahead with their protest even after the entire Cabinet of the State and three IAS officers urging the TSRTC union leaders not to go on the strike.
‘RTC’s partial privatisation essential for survival’
As for the opposition to privatisation in the TSRTC, the minister stressed that the State government was not privatising the entire corporation and would only be taking up partial privatisation, which he said was essential for keeping the TSRTC afloat.
He criticised the BJP for protesting the partial privatisation of TSRTC, in spite of the BJP-led Central government working towards privatisation of the Indian Railways.
Puvvada said that in 2014-15 the TSRTC’s total assets were worth Rs 4,416 crores and that it has not increased much as of yet due to the losses incurred every year.
‘No dearth of buses in State’
Speaking with regard to the present condition of buses run in the State, the Transport Minister said that there was no dearth of buses in the TSRTC, which is operating around 5,500 buses in the State in addition to around 2,000 extra buses and other public transport vehicles.
He added that the operationalisation of buses was never less than 70 per cent of the full capacity in the districts.