Hyderabad: On a euphoric high from the Huzurnagar bypoll win, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Thursday orally sang an epitaph for the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), declaring that it “has no future... it is a gone case.”
Ruling out any possibility of the merger of the RTC with the state government, he declared that there was no scope for RTC to continue in the same form as it exists today. Though he declared that the RTC had no future, he left a hint of hope for its 48,000-odd beleaguered striking workers, who “walked away from their duties”, to find employment again.
“They (striking workers) are the ones who walked away from work. If they want their jobs back, they can go back and apply. Who am I to say what they should do? It is for them to decide what they want to do. The strike itself is illegal,” Mr Rao said.
Addressing a press conference at Telangana Bhavan, the Chief Minister answered a spate of questions regarding the RTC strike, calling it “a meaningless and senseless strike.”
Maintaining that the trade unions were misleading RTC workers and squarely responsible for the outcome that awaits the RTC, he said, “this strike is nothing but a consequence of efforts by unions leaders to hang on to their positions because every few years they have elections.”
Claiming that he bore no grudges against the drivers or conductors of RTC, Mr. Rao said, “If they want to say that we will cut our own life support, as unions are saying every day, what should be done? Please tell me. The court said hold talks and we agreed. The unions could have at least waited for talks to begin instead of heaping fresh abuse on us. On one hand, they keep abusing the government and Chief Minister; on the other, they expect a solution of their liking.”
Mr Rao further said the government had to cater to needs of everyone in the state and cannot be held to ransom by one section of workers. Making it clear that the merger of RTC with the state government was impossible, he said the government of India had brought the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, whose provisions empower a state government to encourage private transport and control the RTC.
He dared the state BJP leadership, which was demanding a merger of RTC with government, if they would criticise Prime Minister Modi for being wrong in bringing such an Act, which envisages entry of private players in public transportation.
He said RTC Unions are responsible for current state of affairs, including its mounting losses. If the RTC could not pay a loan installment to banks for October, it would be termed a non- performing asset. In future, it would go for liquidation as it was not in a position to pay salaries to employees.
Mr Rao said a reason for the losses was the decision to hire buses and make profit of `0.75 paisa per kilometer a day.
Recalling that the-then chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Digvijay Singh had shut down the MPSRTC, Mr Rao said his government would take a decision with regard to future of RTC on whether to adopt the MP model or not in coming days, after the decision of the High Court in cases against RTC strike. “Our responsibility is to ensure availability of public transport and we will do that. We have already hired 2,300 private buses. We will hire more in coming days and issue permits for stage carriers to make public transport available for people at costs lesser than the RTC tariff in future. An effective public transport system that promotes competition and better services at lesser cost is in the offing,” Mr Rao added.
