JAC will fight for RTC rights: Kodandaram

​Hyderabad: Stating that the role of RTC workers during the Telangana agitation was unforgettable, JAC chairman M Kodandaram said JAC would fight for their rights and make RTC a profit-making entity. He was speaking at a seminar ‘RTC losses and strike’ at Sundaraiah Vignana Kendram on Wednesday.

He asked the RTC workers to prepare an action plan for making the corporation profitable. Saying that there was always a scope for a dialogue between the Management and workers, he called upon workers to make the most of the dialogue which, he said, he would initiate between the RTC Chairman and its workers.

Kodandaram said that the first step or priority was to bifurcate the corporation. “If the corporation is divided, Telangana will get its right to question the number of bus routes available and the rationalisation of taxes. Profits alone are not a standard in the public sector companies,” he observed.

Stating that dialogue was central to democracy, Prof G Haragopal said that the Chief Minister should interact with people. “Y S Rajasekhara Reddy used to interact with people in the morning, but this Chief Minister is not doing the same,” he said and added that apart from profits and losses, the focus should be on providing affordable transport to passengers.

Justice B Chandra Kumar too was critical of the Chief Minister for not giving appointments to people or representatives of organisations. Educationist Chukka Ramaiah said the government must stop seeing the corporation from a profit-loss perspective.

Other intellectuals, who attended the meeting, gave valuable suggestions on turning RTC in to a profit-making corporation. They observed that curbing illegal operations by private operators alone could get RTC, a profit of Rs 1,000 crore annually.

“During the Telangana agitation, it was said that the private operators were from Andhra and they were causing losses to the corporation. A promise was made to stop them after the formation of new State, but these buses are still being operated in the State even two years after the formation of Telangana,” said The Hans India editor Prof K Nageshwar. Alleging that the government was busy with nationalisation of losses and privatisation of profits, he said.

A study by IIM Bangalore revealed that RTC was suffering losses of 29 per cent only because of illicit operations by private operators. According to the rule book, private tourist buses cannot have stage carriers, but one can see these buses stopping everywhere. Passengers travelling in RTC are paying more taxes than people travelling by flights,” said the speakers at the seminar. They observed that cargo services could generate good revenue to the corporation.

“In the undivided corporation, it was estimated that cargo services could generate revenue of Rs 1,000 crore, but the corporation does not have permission. Even a ‘tyre factory’ can generate revenue for the corporation.

During N T Rama Rao’s era, a tyre factory was proposed and land was also identified at Mangalagiri, but it did not materialise. If the tyre factory is set up, the Telangana Corporation can sell tyres to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra RTC,” they said. The intellectuals were against hike in bus fares stating that any attempt to increase fares would mean a fall in occupancy ratio.