Following an assurance given by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy that he would look into the problems plaguing smooth functioning of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC), leaders of the RTC Employees Unions’ Joint Action Committee (JAC) on Wednesday announced that they were calling off the proposed strike from June 13.
The JAC leaders met the Chief Minister at the Secretariat and explained to him that there were several long-pending issues that needed immediate attention to bring the public transport wing back on the rails.
Later, speaking to reporters, the JAC leaders said Mr. Jagan had promised that henceforth, RTC employees would be treated on a par with government employees. They also expressed their gratitude to him for keeping his election promise and taking up the RTC merger issue immediately after coming to power.
Accumulated losses
Stating that the merger decision would change the lives of the 55,000 RTC employees who were under tremendous pressure due to the ₹ 700-crore accumulated losses in the organisation.
They said to set the merger process rolling, the government would soon constitute a committee to be headed by former IPS officer Anjaneya Reddy with RTC officials and representatives of the union as members.
They said a Government Order would be issued in a couple of days on constitution of the committee which would submit its report in two months’ time.
