Telangana Governor at it again; holds back nod for bill on TSRTC merger

An announcement from the Raj Bhavan that the Governor wanted "more time" to examine the bill on TSRTC merger and seek legal opinion has triggered protests

Hyderabad: Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan is once again courting courtesy by withholding permission to the State government to table in the Assembly the bill related to the proposed merger of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation with the government.

With the merger being a major decision taken by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao in the recent State Cabinet meeting, and with the same to have direct implications on the lives of over 43,000 employees, an announcement from the Raj Bhavan that the Governor wanted “more time” to examine the bill and seek legal opinion has triggered protests, with RTC employees to lay siege to the Raj Bhavan and stop all bus services for two hours on Saturday.

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Earlier in the day, a statement from the Raj Bhavan said the Governor had sought more time to examine the draft Bill of the ‘Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (Absorption of Employees into Government Service)’, which was submitted by the State government to the Governor on Wednesday.

The Raj Bhavan said it had received the draft Bill at 3.30 p.m on Wednesday and the Assembly was scheduled to meet on Thursday. More time was required to “examine” it and “obtain legal opinion for taking a decision”, the statement said.

Following this, RTC employees and workers decided to lay siege to the Raj Bhavan and also stage protests at all depots across the State. They also decided to stop all bus services for two hours on Saturday.

The State government had recently announced the merger of TSRTC in the government and absorb all the RTC employees into the government services. The BRS government was determined to pass the TSRTC merger Bill in the ongoing Assembly session and sent it for the Governor’s consent.

The Telangana Mazdoor union (TMU) said that besides stalling all bus services for two hours during the day, they would appear to duties wearing black badges and also stage protests at all the depots.

“It is wrong on the part of the Governor to not approve the TSRTC Bill proposed by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to benefit 43,373 families of RTC employees,” TMU General Secretary Thomas Reddy said.