Andhra Pradesh demands Rs 16,000 crore, Telangana offers Rs 76 crore for RTC split

Hyderabad: The TRS government’s indifferent attitude towards the bifurcation of the Road Transport Corporation (RTC) since five years is making it difficult to take departmental decisions.

The main dispute between Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh was the sharing of RTC assets located in and around Hyderabad city. It may be recalled that the central government has said in the High Court that TSRTC does not exist since the APSRTC was not bifurcated between the two states.

After state bifurcation, both states have come to an understanding with each taking the bus depots on location basis in the districts.

Accordingly, Telangana state has taken the RTC bus depots located in Telangana districts and AP has taken the bus depots located in AP districts. Due to the incomplete bifurcation of RTC, the Telangana government has not been able to establish an independent RTC officially.

Technically, there exists is no TSRTC and no separate Act for the Telangana government. This has become a hurdle for taking policy decisions, said a senior official. In and around Hyderabad, RTC has valuable assets and lands. The AP government’s demand is that these assets should be shared between the two states in a ratio of 58:42 as per the AP Reorganisation Act but the Telangana government has opposed this.

The AP government’s claim is that it should get more than Rs 16,000 crore as its share. According to officials, the RTC has 11 valuable properties in Hyderabad in the form of buildings and land. RTC’s main headquarters is located in the city at RTC cross roads.

As per a rough estimate made by AP officials the total worth of RTC properties is about Rs 35,000 crore. But the Telangana government has offered a share in Bus Bhavan, the headquarters of RTC that had a book value at the time of construction of Rs 76 crore.