Mahalakshmi scheme enhances work burden on TGSRTC employees

TGSRTC employees extended strong support to a strike in Karimnagar, citing increased workload and staff shortage after the Mahalakshmi free bus scheme. Employees demanded recruitment, better pay scales, and merger of the corporation with the state government

Karimnagar: The state government’s prestigious scheme ‘Mahalakshmi’, a free bus facility for women, is one of the major reasons for TGSRTC employees extending wholehearted support to the strike. RTC JAC began the strike demanding that the government merge the corporation with the state government, revive unions, implement pay scales, and other measures. The strike was a grand success on the first day on Wednesday.

Except for a few services, including hired and electric buses, all other buses were confined to depots as no employee, including drivers, conductors, and other staff, attended duties. Though the JAC began the strike with its demands, the dissatisfaction among RTC employees following the introduction of the Mahalakshmi scheme is said to be the reason for employees extending wholehearted support to the strike.

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A conductor from Vemulawada depot said that the work burden on drivers and conductors has increased enormously during the last two and a half years. Decline in staff and an increase in working hours were the main reasons for the work burden. There were 55,000 employees in the corporation when the Mahalakshmi scheme was introduced in 2023. Now, the number has come down to 35,000 due to retirements.

However, there was no process to replace retired workers with new recruitment. As a result, the existing staff has been facing a heavy burden. Compared to earlier years, the occupancy ratio in RTC buses has increased sharply during the last two and a half years. More than 100 per cent occupancy ratio is being recorded as against around 60 per cent earlier.

It was mainly due to the Mahalakshmi scheme. As passenger rush in buses has increased, RTC officials increased the number of trips. As a result, the number of kilometres has also increased to 1.25 lakh kilometres from 1 lakh kilometres per day. Since there was no adequate staff, the existing staff has been engaged in extra duties. As a result, the staff has to work more hours than earlier.

For instance, drivers working on Hyderabad services have to discharge duties for about 17 hours, compared to 12 hours earlier, he said and urged the government to take steps to reduce the burden on existing staff by starting the recruitment process, besides implementing other demands.