RTC employees to get retirement benefits on par with government staff

Vijayawada: What could be a better gift for the thousands of RTC employees of the State on the occasion Vinayaka Chavithi than that the government announcement they will get the same retirement and other benefits that other State government staff receive.

The State government on Thursday issued orders to pay the retirement benefits to the employees of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) on par with the government employees under the Comprehensive Finance Management System (CFMS).

As per the orders, the retirement benefits like leave encashment, gratuity and others will be paid under the Head of Account directly to the retired employees or the employees, who take the voluntary retirement.

The APSRTC Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Dwaraka Tirumala Rao in a press release on Thursday announced that so far only government employees used to get retirement benefits under the Comprehensive Finance Management System. He said with the order released on Wednesday, the RTC employees, who retired after January 1, 2020 or who took the VRS before January 1, 2020 will be paid the retirement benefits under CFMS wherein the payment will be made very fast without any hurdles.

He said the Public Transport Department (PTD) employees henceforth will get retirement benefits under the CFMS, which is used by the government for the payments to employees.

He said the State government is implementing many welfare schemes for the RTC employees. The government increased the retirement age of the RTC employees from 58 to 60 in September 2019 and later issued Employees Health Scheme cards so that they could get the medical services in the corporate hospitals under Aarogya Sri scheme. He said the government has also increased the insurance cover to the RTC employees up to Rs40 lakh in July 2021 and made facility for payment of Rs 5 lakh to the kin in case of the death of RTC employees.

The RTC Employees' Union president YV Rao and general secretary P Damodara Rao hailed the decision of the government and they thanked Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Transport Minister Perni Nani and the Vice-Chairman and MD of the RTC Dwaraka Tirumala Rao.