Telangana RTC to be privatised. KCR gives ultimatum to employees

Hyderabad: State cabinet has decided to adopt the West Bengal model and privatise 50 per cent of the bus routes. The cabinet also decided to come to the rescue of the striking 48,000 employees and give them one last chance to join duty unconditionally by midnight of Nov 5.

The RTC has about 10,000 buses and it would operate 5000 on its own and another 5000 will be privatised if the employees join the duty. If they fail all 10,000 buses will be handed over to private operators. He said the cabinet had taken this decision after deliberating in detail over various aspects pertaining to the corporation. He said the centre had recently passed an act giving free hand to the state governments to make decisions about RTC. The state government has decided to privatise based on the act passed by Parliament.

He said that the government had adopted a tough attitude towards the unions which are indulging in blackmailing tactics but was soft towards the employees. The unions had misguided the employees and had pushed them on to the road. But the government was soft towards the employees and hence decided to give one last chance to them.

Stating that the cabinet had categorically rejected the RTC workers demand merger of RTC with the government, the chief minister said that government decided to invite private operators in the RTC to improve the transportation facilities and create competitiveness in the public transportation. As per the new Motor Vehicle Act 2019, the private operators are being invited to run the buses in the state. However, the government will finalise the routes to be allocated to the private operators and also the fares structure will be decided by the corporation only.

He said all the existing passes and concessions will be continued. This decision of the cabinet is aimed at saving the RTC from getting into further debt. Refuting the charge of the unions and opposition parties that government was responsible for the suicides and deaths of RTC employees, KCR said the unions should take the responsibility for forcing the employees to end life. The government had already extended Rs 4,000 crore assistance to the RTC, he added.