Leaders of the AP State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) Employees' Union (EU) on Friday urged Transport Minister Perni Venkataramaiah to direct the corporation management to return the amount of around ₹280 crore of employees’ money that was diverted and spent for other purposes.
In a statement, EU leaders Y.V. Rao and P. Damodar Rao said the workers had set up a Credit Cooperative Society (CCS)and deposited monthly contributions with an aim to use the money collected at the time of need by the workers. But the management had used the money promising to pay monthly interest which had not been happening.
In letters submitted to the Minister, Principal Secretary, Transport and Roads and Building M.T. Krishna Babu and APSRTC Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Madireddy Pratap, the leaders said during the lockdown period, the retired employees of the RTC were facing serious financial problems. They had deposited their hard earned money in the CCS and had been using the interest earned on it for their monthly expenditure. But with the management’s ‘failure’ to pay the interest on the money used, the retired employees deprived of their monthly income.
They also appealed to the Minister to send back RTC employees whose services were being utilised as COVID-19 volunteers in different places in view of the lockdown, to their parent department since the buses had started operating and also the outsourced and contract employees should be called back to duties.
