Yielding to persistent demand that its bifurcation be expedited, the AP State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) management has embarked on the exercise of segregating Bus Bhavan, the corporate office of the RTC in Hyderabad, into ‘A’ and ‘B’ blocks for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, respectively.
It will pave the way for the administrative division of the corporation, setting aside the contentious issue of asset distribution for now. The new wings will tentatively start functioning from April 15.
The division of assets and liabilities will have to wait till the Sheela Bhide Committee, which is mandated to look into the status of institutions mentioned under Schedule 9 and 10 of the AP State Reorganisation Act 2014, submits its report. The APSRTC is the biggest of the 89 institutions mentioned under the ninth schedule of the Act.
Officials of the two corporations are facing tremendous pressure while discharging their duties, thanks to the absence of clarity as to which government’s instructions should be followed. RTC staff and unions in AP are upset that their counterparts in Telangana are “stoking” the problem by making “unreasonable” demands.
Staff of the Telangana wing are demanding that the assets of the Corporation prior to the formation of AP in 1956 be not considered for division. However, this aspect was not considered while the AP Reorganisation Act was being framed. The Act made it clear that the assets of all corporations should be divided in accordance with the ratio of the States’ population.
While liabilities have to be divided in terms of the ratio of valuation of assets, it is being opposed by Telangana employees and their affiliated unions. According to them, though the number of RTC properties in AP is more than those of Telangana, in terms of valuation, the properties in Telangana are of much higher value. “We have asked the government to sanction Rs. 635 crore to develop ‘common’ assets, which already exist in Telangana in the residual AP. The Centre’s intervention seems inevitable since the APSRTC is created and governed by the Central Act,” says K. Padmakar, APSRTC Employees Union general secretary.
