It may sound strange, but its true as far as the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) is concerned. Telangana, the 29th State of the Indian Republic, was born on June 2, 2014 and bifurcation of most Government departments and undertakings has already taken place.
Interestingly, the APSRTC is yet to be bifurcated ‘on paper’. Yes, it is a fact that all official stationery proclaims the names — Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) and APSRTC. It is also true that what is now known as the APSRTC has totally shifted its offices to Vijayawada.
However, a much-awaited board meeting of the APSRTC will be held at Vijayawada on August 24 to actually thrash out the finer issues of the bifurcation process. The resolutions at the meeting will then be sent to the Sheila Bhide Committee and onward to the State and Central Governments.
Revenues
Traffic revenues of the corporation as also salaries of employees and expenses are now being calculated and booked-on-account, separately. But what is indisputable is that with a Central Government remaining as a shareholder in the erstwhile APSRTC, there are certain statutory proceedings required as part of the process of what could be termed an ‘actual, fiscal and physical’ bifurcation.
One-third of about ₹230 crore of the share capital is from the Centre and it has to be factored in during the actual bifurcation process. Bifurcation of the corporation is completed functionally, but it is not yet over in strict official sense. According to the Road Transport Corporation Act of 1950, the Central Government has to issue a notification about the assets and liabilities and their distribution between the two successor corporations.
Notification
The notification will deal with the allocation/transfer of State cadre employees too. There are actually hundreds of employees at different levels in Telangana state who want to go back to the present Andhra Pradesh and vice versa, but a decision is yet to be taken.
Apart from the TSRTC MD G.V. Ramana Rao and MD of APSRTC Malakondaiah, the board comprises Secretaries to Government on Finance and Transport from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and Commissioner of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and a representative of the Labour department.
