Hyderabad: The State Assembly on Sunday passed the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (Absorption of Employees into Government Service) Bill 2023, thus paving the way for the merger of the TSRTC in the State government. Transport Minister P Ajay Kumar introduced the Bill in the Assembly after Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan gave her approval earlier in the day.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao allayed fears over the welfare of RTC employees and safety of RTC assets. He explained that though the BRS government was not favourable for merger of the RTC in the State government earlier, it was compelled to take the decision due to mounting losses suffered by the Corporation. He said the Cabinet discussed the issue at length, before taking the final decision.

“Due to the abnormal increase in diesel prices and other expenses, the RTC is suffering severe losses. The government has a social obligation towards its people to provide affordable public transport as scores of people are dependent on it for commuting every day. Hence, we decided to absorb the employees into the government and merge the corporation to make adequate budget allocations to strengthen it further,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the State government was allocating Rs 1,500 crore every year to TSRTC for its operations. He said he was unable to understand why the Governor sought so many clarifications and knowingly or unknowingly delayed such a simple process. He rubbished the allegations that the RTC assets would be sold or auctioned, assuring that the government had no such plans.

Transport Minister Ajay Kumar informed the Assembly that the Corporation would continue to operate under the administrative control of the Transport, Roads and Buildings department, with the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director as its head. The employees would be absorbed into public services as government employees and existing service rules of TSRTC would continue to remain in force, until fresh rules were framed.

Due to the decision, the State government would incur an additional burden of around Rs 3,000 crore per annum. He assured that the contract and outsourcing workers would continue to render their services as per existing rules.