Hyderabad: Crucial Cabinet meet on RTC workers fate

Hyderabad: Besides deciding the fate of 48,000 workers of TSRTC, the state cabinet, which would be holding a marathon meeting on Thursday, will discuss crucial issues like leasing out of valuable properties, owned by the TSRTC, development of commercial complexes under PPP mode and sell some of the costly RTC assets in open auction.

According to highly-placed sources, the Corporation has worked detailed proposals on these lines and would be up for the consideration of the cabinet. The state government is keen to find a permanent solution to the problems of RTC and wants to ensure that there would be no future strikes.

It may be mentioned here that RTC had already leased some of the valuable assets in the old Karimangar, Warangal , Nizamabad, Nalgonda and Medak districts to the prospective commercial establishments to open their outlets like super bazaars, petrol pumps and other trade-related activity.

After the RTC workers went on strike, the chief minister held a detailed review on corporation owned assets in Hyderabad and other parts of the state. The management also estimated the value of the properties in Hyderabad and Secunderabad areas where vast stretches of land were lying idle.

Though the officials did not divulge the details of the exact market value of all properties, the RTC authorities are confident of generating hundreds of crores of rupees by leasing the costly lands located near bus stations and in and around the bus depots and garages.

"Currently, the corporation is in dire need of financial assistance to overcome the crisis. The government has made it clear that it will not come to the rescue of the corporation which requires at least Rs 3,000 crore to pay the debts as the state is facing fund crunch due to various reasons. The options before the government to make the corporation a profit-making body is privatisation of the RTC bus routes and utilisation of the assets for more revenue generation.

The government's recent policy decision of 50 per cent privatisation of the RTC routes will not alone address the financial constraints faced by the corporation. The use of costly lands owned by the RTC in the municipal corporations and commercially busy urban areas will bring an instant relief to the corporation from debt crisis.