Congress failed to keep promises made to RTC employees: Harish Rao

Former Minister T Harish Rao supported RTC employees on strike in Siddipet, accusing the Congress government of failing to honour promises. He alleged privatisation plans, financial gaps in schemes, and warned of protests if demands, including employee status, are not met.

Siddipet: Former Minister T Harish Rao, who expressed his solidarity with RTC employees on strike in Siddipet, demanded that the government recognise RTC staff as government employees without any delay as promised by the Congress. Citing the promises made in the Congress manifesto, Rao said that the Congress had promised to implement two pay revisions besides restoring trade unions immediately after coming to power.

He further accused the government of conspiring to privatise the entire RTC in a phased manner across the State, beginning from Hyderabad. Rao said that the introduction of the Maha Lakshmi scheme had become a burden on the drivers and conductors. While the Congress was boasting of spending Rs 9,200 crore on the Maha Lakshmi scheme, the former minister said that the government paid only Rs 7,000 crore to RTC, and denied the remaining Rs 2,200 crore.

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The former minister said that the Congress had raised its voice when the BRS was in power. He questioned MLC Kondaram, who had questioned the BRS earlier, for staying calm on the RTC workers’ protests now. Rao accused so-called intellectuals like Kodandaram of acting only against former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao when RTC staff launched a strike during the BRS rule.

He said that these intellectuals never really had any concern for the employees’ issues. Rao demanded that the government keep all the promises made to the RTC employees. All the new buses which were being purchased by RTC were ordered when the BRS was in power. The former minister said that the number of buses which were in operation had come down considerably.

He warned that the BRS would launch massive protests unless the government fulfilled its promises. Rao accused the Congress of acquiring RTC assets such as Bus Bhavan but refusing to identify RTC staff as government employees. Due to a lack of new recruitments, he said that RTC drivers were forced to work 14 to 17 hours, which may even result in accidents. He demanded that the Congress government focus on resolving employees’ issues rather than forcing workers to withdraw the strike.