Leaders of the AP State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) Employees’ Union Joint Action Committee (JAC) on Sunday demanded allocation of funds to the tune of ₹3,720 crore by the government to help the public transport giant overcome its financial troubles.
At a meeting held at the RTC EU’s office at the main bus station, a 13-member JAC was constituted with the EU’s State general secretary P. Damodar Rao as its convener, Ch. Sundaraiah (Staff and Workers Federation) and V. Varahala Naidu (Karmika Parishat) as co-conveners and others as members.
Addressing the meeting, the leaders pointed to the fact that the fleet of RTC buses was the main mode of transport for 65 lakh-70 lakh people everyday. They traced the cause of the losses to the fact that that bus fares had not been increased since 2015 despite a 50% hike in the prices of diesel and spare parts.
The corporation had been incurring an annual loss of ₹800 crore on the 5,000 Palle Velugu buses being operated in rural areas and it had been paying a daily interest of a whopping ₹ 2 crore.
They said despite incurring huge losses on some routes, the corporation had been operating services to ensure that the public was not put to any inconvenience. The government, therefore, should take note of its problems and allocate funds to put the organisation back on the track.
‘Revenue up’
In comparison with 2014, the organisation could increase its revenue to ₹2,000 crore in 2018 due to the hard work invested by the employees and the workers. But despite their best efforts, the corporation could not completely overcome its financial woes. The government should help this sector on the lines of the education and medical and health sectors, they insisted.
Reiterating their demand for implementation of the pay revision and 50% fitment allowance, they said if the management failed to respond favourably in the meeting scheduled for February 22, the JAC would declare its future course of action on the next day (January 23).
Union’s State president Y.V. Rao were among those present.