Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said that Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will be made to cross subsidise losses in the RTC to the extent of bus services within the corporation limits up to Rs. 200 crore annually.
Addressing a press conference after announcing 44 per cent pay hike to bus crew, Mr. Rao said the losses incurred by the RTC in Telangana were over Rs. 400 crore per annum. The cross subsidy by the GHMC, special grant of the government in the annual budget and saving of interest of Rs. 189 crore on outstanding loan by improving efficiency were some of the measures contemplated by the government to make RTC profitable. The government aimed to mop up about Rs. 300 crore by improving efficiency in the corporation, he added.
He said roping in the civic body was nothing new as the sector was handed over to urban local bodies in New York, London, Barcelona and Paris. The practice was taken up because urban transport across the globe was a losing proposition. Not just the transportation, but gas, power and water were also handled by local bodies in foreign countries.
The government will also ask the Centre to divest its equity of 33 per cent in RTC and 49 per cent in Signareni Collieries because it played no role in improving the health of the undertakings. The Centre took dividend from them when they made profits, but did not share losses. Mr. Rao, however, declined withdrawal of motor vehicles tax and value added tax on diesel of the RTC fleet because it would affect Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) levels of the government.
Insisting that it was the policy of the TRS government to protect public sector, Mr. Rao said power generation in private sector was not allowed precisely for this reason. Mr. Rao announced that the services of 4,300 contract staff of RTC would be regularised from Thursday when the corporation would work as two entities and they would be paid salaries on par with regular employees from June.
Regarding contract workers in other departments and corporations, he said they would also be extended the facility as soon as the Kamalanathan Committee divides State-level posts of officers and employees. The outsourcing employees will not be regularised.
