Ponnam, Harish spar over govt employee tag for TSRTC staff

Hyderabad: Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar and BRS legislator T Harish Rao locked horns in the Assembly on Wednesday over recognising the RTC staff as government employees.

The Minister alleged that the BRS government tried to kill RTC during the last ten years, while at the very end of its tenure, it brought the merger proposal and is now asking about staff welfare. The issue came up in the question hour when Harish Rao wanted to know the stage at which the proposal of recognising RTC staff as government employees and the time by which it would be implemented.

Responding, Prabhakar said the BRS, during its ten-year tenure, tried to kill RTC. “They even cancelled the labour unions and demanded revival of the unions today. The past government made a retired officer who is a relative of the BRS chief MD of the corporation. At the end of the tenure, it formed a committee and, without any discussion, announced recognition. It tried to give a political colour by provoking the staff against the Governor,” he said.

“What rights do you have? Do you have the right to talk about the revival of the unions when you cancel them? Apologise in front of the staff for not caring about them when they were dying during the 56-day strike. Have you bought even one bus in the last 10 years? After our government came, new buses were purchased,” asserted the minister.

He informed that the government had paid Rs 80 crore of outstanding bonds of Rs 280 crore pending since 2013. After the government came, the PF and CCS funds related to the staff were not used. The BRS government had used Rs 4,000 crore in workers' money. Today, the government allocated Rs 300 crore per month under the Mahalakshmi scheme. Already, 70 crore women have travelled free in RTC buses. The government had paid Rs 2,200 crore to the TGRTC through Mahalakshmi while travelling.

“We have given jobs to the children of deceased RTC workers through compassionate appointments. We are developing MRI and CT scan facilities at RTC Tarnaka Hospital. While in the past, 45 lakh people travelled, now 56 lakh are travelling regularly,” the minister said.

He agreed that there was overload on the staff; the staff was paid overtime after eight hours of duty. The bus occupancy rate had increased to 95%; operational losses have also come down, Prabhakar stated.