KCR sets three-day deadline for RTC employees to rejoin duty

HYDERABAD: Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday gave the final opportunity to the striking employees of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation to retain their jobs by returning to their duties by midnight of November 5.

Following a five-hour marathon state cabinet meeting, the CM said he wanted to give one last chance to the agitating employees on humanitarian grounds. “I am giving them three days’ time. They have to return to their duties unconditionally by midnight of November 5. If they do not resume their duties before this deadline, it would be the end of their job and they would be permanently losing their jobs,” KCR declared.

KCR said at present, there were 10,400 buses being run by the RTC, including 2,100 buses hired from private services. Another 3,000 buses belonging to the RTC are in a bad shape and ready to be condemned.

Since the RTC management is not in a position to buy new buses in place of these condemned buses, the cabinet decided to privatise these 3,000 services, apart from 2,100 hired services, he said.

“It means the government will be giving permits to private bus operators to run 5,100 buses. The remaining 5,300 buses would be under the control of the RTC. The decision was taken to provide a level-playing field to the public and private transport, in accordance with the new Motor Vehicles Act passed by the Parliament recently that came into effect from September 1,” the chief minister said.

“Telangana would become a state without public transport,” he said.