Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has ridiculed those who are raising suspicion over the merger of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) with the government, citing his reluctance to do so in the past.
Speaking in the Assembly on Sunday, he said that high diesel prices have become a bane for the agency as it consumes 6 lakh litres of diesel every day and due to the hike in fuel price over the last couple of years, it was incurring ₹2.5 crore loss per day. The corporation has made every possible effort to overcome the losses by improving its performance with ₹1,500 crore assistance by the government every year, he said.
During a recent meeting on the performance of RTC, all issues were discussed at length and it was found that overcoming the losses was difficult. However, since providing public transport was a social obligation of the government, TSRTC could not be shut down, and hence came the proposal to merge it with the government as the only solution.
Mr. Rao termed the comments made by some that TSRTC was being merged with the government to “grab its properties” as heinous. He made it clear that the government would improve facilities and not dispose assets. He also thanked the Governor for clearing the Bill for introduction in the Assembly although she was misinformed by some sections on it initially.
Later, Minister for Transport P. Ajay Kumar introduced the TSRTC Absorption of Employees into Government Service Bill 2023. He stated that new service rules would be framed soon and till then, existing rules would be in force. He explained that the government would pump ₹3,000 crore every year to meet the salary and allowances of the 43,055 employees and other obligations such as payment of dues, assets and liabilities would be managed by the corporation from its revenue.
The RTC employees would get a pay revision on a par with other government staff based on the recommendations of the Pay Revision Commission (PRC).
Two other Bills – Telangana Municipalities (Second Amendment) Bill 2023 and Telangana Panchayat Raj (Third Amendment) Bill 2023 were also introduced for demerger of Koyagutta Thanda and Saigudem wards from Banswada and Alair municipalities and forming them as new Gram Panchayats, respectively. All the Bills were passed with a voice vote.
