If CM gives an opportunity… : Can pull RTC out of red

Hyderabad: The TSRTC need not be privatised to pull it out from the mess it has landed into.

If the government really wants to save the organisation and protect the interests of the employees, solutions are available, claims trade union leader and former APSRTC director M Nageswara Rao.

Rao says that given a chance, he can make the ailing TSRTC towards break-even within a year if Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao provides him the opportunity.

Talking to The Hans India, he said he has been associated with the RTC for over four decades and has experience to deal with the officials and employees.

Nageswara Rao says he can suggest to the government on what needs to be done to bail out the RTC.

He blamed the JAC leaders for putting the future of 48,000 employees at stake. He said, "I have been with the RTC and entered into five agreements with different governments."

"I know the functioning of the workers... I can pull the corporation out from the problems and ensure that it becomes break-even within a year.

It is my mother organisation," he said. Rao said that the state government should provide a grant of Rs 3,000 crore to the corporation and this would help in getting additional funding from the Centre as it has 33 per cent share in the corporation.

The government can form a committee with experts, including him, former Governor of Tamil Nadu PS Ramamohan Rao (he was the RTC MD earlier), Lok Satta founder Jayaprakash Narayan and C Anjaneya Reddy.

The former director said that measures like rescheduling the bus routes, identifying loss-incurring depots, talking to workers and drivers, etc will help in pulling the RTC out of red.

The private operators are also one of the reasons for the losses for the corporation. "There are many things which can be done which I cannot disclose now.

I will not speak out until the government comes forward to utilise my services. I have experience of working with CM KCR when he was the Transport Minister during 1998-99. Once I had a meeting with him for five hours," said Nageswara Rao.

The RTC leader feels that the fare hike was inevitable given the fact that last time the charges increased were in June 2016. When the prices were hiked, the diesel price was Rs 49 per litre but now it is Rs 72 per litre.

The corporation should be given a helping hand like other departments. When the Discoms are running with losses to the tune of Rs 11000 crore and the government is allocating funds for them why not for the RTC, he asks.

Rao said the RTC employees should not have made 'unwanted demands'. When the government requested the workers to postpone their strike, they should have waited and this would not have hurt the Chief Minister and the government would have fallen in defence," he said.

The JAC demanded wage revision but they have not mentioned how much fitment they were seeking. The merger demand was also not correct.

Except for Punjab and Haryana, no corporation was merged with the government in the country. In Andhra Pradesh, the Chief Minister has taken a decision in haste but even then, it was in preliminary stage, he added.