Ponnam urges RTC staff to withdraw strike call

Hyderabad: Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar on Monday appealed to the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) employees not to go on strike as this would inconvenience people. The minister also pointed out that the RTC had just started recovering from its losses and any strike by the employees at this juncture would push the corporation back into crisis. 

Last month, the Joint Action Committee of the TGSRTC employees announced that they would go on strike from midnight on May 6.

On Monday, members of the TGSRTC employees’ unions met the minister to bring their problems to his notice. Stating that the government was ready to address their issues, the minister urged the employees to withdraw their decision to go on strike from May 6.

Prabhakar told the unions that he and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy were always ready to hear their grievances. He stated that the government was giving priority to the protection of the RTC, welfare of the employees and amenities to passengers.

He told the union leaders that the previous BRS government had neglected the RTC for 10 years. It neither purchased a single new bus nor provided a job. He alleged that the previous KCR-led government used the funds of the employees Cooperative Credit Society (CCS) and Provident Fund (PF).

The minister stated that after the Congress government came to power, it paid Rs 400 crore towards the bonds issued to the RTC employees and also paid Rs 1,039 crore to clear long-pending PF arrears and gave Rs 345 crore towards CCS arrears.

The Transport minister further mentioned that 1,500 appointments were made on compassionate grounds while 3,038 new jobs were approved.