Hyderabad: The Telangana State Legislative Assembly on Sunday passed the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) merger bill, by which over 43000 employees of the public transport body will now be treated as government staff.
The bill was introduced in the house by transport minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar.
This comes after the state Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan finally signed the TSRTC merger bill with some recommendations to the state government after intense drama involving massive protests by the transport body’s employees demanding the Governor not delay signing the bill.
Ajay Kumar said that the absorption of employees into the government will cost the state exchequer Rs 3,000 crore annually.
On July 31, the state cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, took a decision to merge the TSRTC with the government.
KCR thanks Governor
Speaking on the bill in the Assembly, KCR while thanking the Governor for signing the bill, took a dig at her saying that she “got into trouble without understanding the bill.”
“The RTC was set up for the sake of public transport. But it fell into deep debt with the passage of time. I worked as the transport minister in the past. Back in the day, the debt was at Rs 14 cr. We repaid the debt and got Rs 14 crore as profit via various programs,” he said.
KCR further said that any decision of the government ‘comes with a lot of responsibility.’ “The price of diesel has become a major burden for the TSRTC. It uses 6 lakh liters of fuel per day. We have discussed the idea of a merger in the cabinet for 5 hours and finally decided to take it up,” he stated.
While slamming the opposition parties for ‘cheap politics’ over the subject, the chief minister denied the allegations that the merger idea was due to the interest of the state government in TSRTC’s assets.
“It’s untrue. We will appoint young IAS officers and get the transport body back into the groove. We will renovate bus stations and if necessary, will collect more land for its development,” he said.
KCR also declared that the TSRTC employees will be dealt with according to the Pay Revision Commission (PRC). “Employees are happy that they will now have job security. The Governor unnecessarily asked for several clarifications. But at the end, she realised and signed the bill. I thank her for both the employees and myself,” he remarked.
