Hyderabad: Unfulfilled poll promises by Telangana and AP Chief Ministers to treat RTC employees on par with government staff has triggered unrest in the RTC — which is due for bifurcation on May 14.
RTC staff have stopped work demanding both the governments to implement their promises to treat them equally and provide a 43 per cent pay hike before the RTC is bifurcated, to avoid problems later.
However, both governments struck down the demand and offered 27 per cent fitment. “RTC will be bifurcated on May 14. We cannot give 43 per cent fitment to RTC staff now. I appeal to them to call off their strike and not to cause inconvenience to people. The government is ready to discuss all outstanding issues with employees through a sub-committee,” said TS transport minister P. Mahender Reddy.
Sources in the government said that the TS CM was awaiting the bifurcation of RTC to fulfill the promises. They also point to legal hurdles and demands from the staff of other corporations, which could inflate the bills and lead to protests from other sections of employees.
“Our demands are not new. All that we are asking both CMs is to implement their poll promises to treat RTC staff on par with government employees and provide 43 per cent fitment. They had promised and they should implement it,” said Mr Raghava Reddy, zonal secretary, TSRTC Employees Union.
Meanwhile, the Congress has backed the stir and party leaders Mallu Ravi and Ponnam Prabhakar demanded that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao deliver on his promise and not impose ESMA.
Ahead of the 2014 general elections, both Mr Rao and Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu had made a slew of promises including treating RTC employees on par with government employees.
