APSRTC May Become A Govt Entity

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed officials to constitute a committee to look into the possibilities of merging the cash-strapped Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) with the State government.

Reports say this move by YS Jagan, which was also one of his promises made before the elections which could likely lead to the RTC employees to call of the strike which is to take place on June 13.

The decision was announced during the first round of talks held on Saturday between the RTC Employees’ Unions and the government. Principal Secretary (Transport) MT Krishna Babu held the talks with APSRTC Joint Action Committee (JAC) leaders on behalf of the government and told them about about the government’s decision.

After the meeting was over JAC convener P Damodar Rao said that the government had responded positively and a study committee comprising of retired officials, vice-chairman and managing director of RTC,employees union leaders as members would be formed to study the issues.

The committee will submit its report in two months from the date of its constitution and a GO to this effect will be issued shortly . Based on the report, the officials will prepare necessary guidelines for merging the corporation with the State government, he said. The same will be discussed in the Cabinet meeting, which will take a final call on the issue, he said. He also said that the JAC delegation will would meet YS Jagan on Monday.

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It may be recollected that the APSRTC employees had decided to go an indefinite strike from June 13 after the talks between employee unions and the management failed, as the management remained non-committal on their demands.

Some of the demands were the arrears pending from 2013, withdrawing the decision to remove 4,000 employees from service, merging APSRTC into the State government, immediate payment of Rs 650 crore pending from the government to APSRTC, and withdrawing the decision the government’s decision to hike passenger fares.

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