TSRTC merger bill: Telangana Guv seeks clarity from BRS govt on these 5 issues

Hyderabad: With TSRTC employees hitting the streets against Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan’s delay in signing the TSRTC merger draft bill, she sought an explanation on five subjects relating to the welfare of the workers, grants from centre, and more from the state government.

She also invited TSRTC workers to Raj Bhavan on Saturday to hold talks and find a resolution.

Responding to the protests, the Governor said that she is ‘pained’ to know about the strike by the workers creating ‘inconvenience to the common public’, as services were delayed to public in several parts of the state including Hyderabad.

“I am pained to know about the strike conducted by RTC employees creating inconvenience to common public…I want to convey that I am always with them even during the previous strike I was with them ..now also I am studying it carefully because their rights should be safeguarded,” she said in a tweet.

Here are the five issues raised by the Governor:

• The Bill does not contain any details about central grants, shares, loans, and other assistance in RTC since 1958.

• The Bill lacks comprehensive details on changing the status of RTC as per Schedule IX of the State Apportionment Act.

• The State government is stating that the TSRTC employees will be treated as equal to government employees. The Governor asked whether the Industrial Disputes Act and labor laws are applicable to their issues and how their benefits are protected.

• The Governor asked the government to give clear details regarding whether all RTC employees will be given pensions at par with government employees in the merger draft bill

• She asked the government to give clear details so that RTC employees can get justice and other benefits in matters like their promotions, and their cadre normalization, as there are no posts like a conductor, controller, etc. among the government employees.

The State cabinet which met under the chairmanship of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on July 31, Monday took a decision to merge the TSRTC with the government. The decision would enable 43,373 employees of the corporation to be treated as government staff.

The protests come after the Governor’s statement on Saturday said that she will sign the TSRTC merger bill after examining all the legal issues around it and the process will take ‘more time’.