Restore 100% bus services at any cost, says KCR

By Newsmeter Network  Published on  13 Oct 2019 7:20 AM GMT
Restore 100% bus services at any cost, says KCR

Highlights

Holidays extended for schools till October 19

September salary for those working

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has asked the officials to make arrangements so that all the RTC buses can be put into service. The CM termed the ongoing strike as illegal and unlawful. Mr Rao instructed the TSRTC officials to pay the salary for September month to those who were working.

“We will not hold any talks with those on strike. The RTC employees who went on strike on their own and abstained from duties will not be taken back come what may. The CM instructed the officials to pay September salaries to those who did not participate in the strike and attended duty.”

The Chief Minister further asked officials to speed up the new recruitment so that half of the RTC fleet can be put into service. And about 30 percent buses would be hired by the TSRTC. The government allows stage carriage route permits to private buses accounting for 20 per cent of the total fleet.

“Until the total restoration of bus services, the government has decided to extend the Dussera holidays till October 19. The RTC strike is causing inconvenience to students. In the next three to four days all the RTC buses are put into service. Educational institutions will have to work on second Saturdays and other such holidays to complete the syllabus. By October 21, the entire RTC bus fleet will be ready. We don't want students who have bus passes to suffer due to the ongoing strike,” said Mr KCR.

The Chief Minister had a review meeting at Pragati Bhavan on Saturday. Ministers Puvvada Ajay Kumar, Ms Sabita Indrareddy, MLA Balka Suman, senior officials Sunil Sharma, S. Narsing Rao, B. Janardhan Reddy, Sandeep Sultania, transport joint commissioners Panduranga Naik, C. Ramesh, Ms Mamata Prasad, DTCs Praveen Rao, Papa Rao, RTC EDs T.V. Rao, Yadagiri, Vinod, Venkateswarlu, Ramesh and others participated in the review meeting.

Mr KCR advised officials to take up fresh recruitment and also avail the services of retired RTC and police department drivers. He said, “Hire unemployees with heavy vehicles driving licence. At any cost, we need to restore 100 per cent bus services at the earliest. We have already decided to run 5,200 buses of the TSRTC, i.e., 50 per cent of the total buses. Recruit employees accordingly. Operate 3,100 private buses on hire with TSRTC. This would account for 30 per cent of the total fleet. We have 21 per cent private buses already hired. Give a notification for the rest of the nine per cent. Give stage carriage route permissions to 2,100 buses (20 per cent). Start doing the exercise in this regard.”

Privatisation in Union Budget

The Chief Minister criticised the stand taken by the opposition parties. Mr KCR questioned the BJP and Congress if they were supporting the RTC strike.

Mr KCR said that there was no credible opposition in the state.

"The current situation in Telangana is like ‘Nadaan Dushman.’ The Congress and the BJP are trying to take political advantage of the situation. This is hope against hope. The political parties will have to face the public outrage for supporting the RTC strike. The Congress and the BJP in their states never implemented the demands put forth by the TSRTC employees. This the people have realised,” said Mr KCR.

The Chief Minister further said that “The BJP, which is in power at the Centre, is privatising the Indian Railways, Air India. Even the Secunderabad Railway Station is privatised. Trains are being privatised. The Central government in its Union Budget stated that it is raising funds by disinvestment in several PSUs. This is how the BJP leadership is taking decisions at the Centre, and their leaders are talking exactly opposite here.”

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