Harish Rao accuses Congress govt of attempting privatisation of RTC

BRS leader T Harish Rao accused the Congress government of weakening TGSRTC to pave the way for privatisation. He demanded release of Rs 2,804 crore dues under the Mahalakshmi scheme and promised to raise RTC employees’ issues in the Assembly

Hyderabad: BRSLP deputy leader T Harish Rao on Thursday said the Congress government was pushing the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) towards privatisation by weakening it in a phased manner. He vowed to raise the issue of RTC employees in the upcoming Assembly session and fight to protect their rights.

RTC Joint Action Committee leaders met Harish Rao and submitted a memorandum detailing the workers’ problems. They flagged pending pay revision commissions, delay in retirement benefits and non-payment of interest on retired employees’ cooperative society deposits, leading to severe hardship for RTC staff.

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Speaking on the occasion, Harish Rao said the government was weakening the corporation under the pretext of introducing electric buses, citing alleged agreements with private firms to supply around 2,000 buses as a move to hand over operations to corporate players.

“The Congress turned a deaf ear to the RTC staff’s demand that the government purchase electric buses on its own by availing the Central government’s subsidy,” he said.

He demanded the immediate release of Rs 2,804 crore dues pending under the Mahalakshmi free travel scheme for women over the last two years. He suspected that the government was shifting the financial burden onto RTC, resulting in losses for the corporation.

The former minister criticised the government for failing to declare the appointed day even after the previous BRS regime merged TGSRTC with the government. He questioned the reasons for not filling vacancies despite the increased workload.

“The government has kept two pay revision commissions (PRCs) pending, and the previous one is yet to be implemented, causing financial troubles for RTC workers,” he reminded.