PM Modi must intervene to save RTC: Congress MPs

New Delhi/Hyderabad: Congress MPs from Telangana on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene to save Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), lives and careers of nearly 49,000 employees and their families.

Led by Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President & Nalgonda MP Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Congress MPs including Komatireddy Venkatreddy (Bhongir), A. Revanth Reddy (Malkajgiri) and Rajya Sabha MP M.A. Khan on Thursday submitted a representation in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Thursday asking Narendra Modi to save RTC and its employees from 'inhuman' attitude of TRS Government.

They said nearly 49,000 RTC employees were on strike for more than 50 days. Over 30 striking employees have either committed suicide or died due to heart attack. The demands of the employees have been the merger of RTC into the government (as already done recently by the neighbouring Government of Andhra Pradesh) reimbursement of subsidies on the passes which have been issued at the instance of the State Government, fulfilment of past assurances, reduction of State Government taxes on diesel used by RTC buses, etc.,

"The RTC employees have called off the strike and wish to join back unconditionally in their duties. However, the Telangana Government was using police in an inhuman and brutal manner to prevent them from doing this. The State Government is trying to close down the RTC and hand over the routes to private operators which will make public transport to remote rural areas significantly costlier. As the Government of India is a 33% shareholder in the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation, we request for the kind intervention of the Prime Minister of India in saving the Telangana State RTC and its 49,000 employees," the Congress MPs said in their representation.

Uttam Kumar Reddy pointed out that the RTC was a public sector undertaking with 33% shareholding of Government of India. "RTC in the combined state of Andhra Pradesh was the largest and best public transport corporation in the country and was also mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Records. After the division of the state, the division of APSRTC into APSRTC and TSRTC was not done in a proper manner and there was no documentation of the concurrence of the Central Government which owns 33% shareholding in combined APSRTC. The total number of employees in Telangana RTC came down from 57,000 at the time of partition of the RTC to 49,000 a few months ago. The properties of the Telangana RTC are all located in prime areas in all the cities of Telangana State and are worth several tens of thousands of crores," he said.

The Congress MPs alleged that the TSRTC has been subjected to wilful negligence by the present TRS government. "The Telangana RTC has suffered financially over the years because the State Government has not reimbursed the RTC the subsidies incurred due to passes to various categories of passengers such as students, senior citizens, etc. Also, the tax levied by the State Government on diesel and petroleum products used in the RTC was one of the highest in the country. The State Government has not appointed a whole time managing director of RTC for several years now," they said.

It may be recalled that Congress MPs from Telangana had also met Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday seeking Centre's immediate intervention on the RTC issue.