HYDERABAD: The Joint Action Committee of the four major Andhra Pradesh State Road Transportation Corporation (APSRTC) unions served a strike notice on the management and the Government seeking redressal of their 17 demands in order to bail out the loss-making public transport organisation.

The unions can launch the strike any time after two weeks of serving the notice. Addressing a press conference here on Friday, the JAC convenor, Syed Mahamood, and the APSRTC Employees Union general secretary, V. Rajarammohan Rao, said the inconsistent statements by the Government on the fate of the RTC had forced the unions to take the extreme step.

They regretted that repeated pleas by the unions to the Government to sympathetically consider the genuine demands had not yielded any result. They were critical of the statements by the Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, about the move to sell RTC properties and an announcement of a package for the corporation.

The JAC leaders belonging the National Mazdoor Union (NMU), Employees Union (EU), Transport Mazdoor Sangh (TMS) and Staff and Workers Federation (SWF) met the APSRTC Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, M.V. Krishna Rao, this afternoon and handed over the strike notice.

Mr. Mahamood blamed the wrong policies adopted by the previous Government as the main cause for the RTC's accumulated losses, which stood at Rs. 1,350 crores. The only option left for the Government was to take the responsibility of clearing the debts as was done in the case of APSEB and Singareni Collieries.

Another major demand was reduction of motor vehicle tax on the RTC to 5 per cent and two per cent in respect of the mofussil and urban services. Interestingly, the demand does not include reimbursement of the revenue loss due to travel concessions to various sections of the society.

MV tax exemption

The unions sought exemption of MV tax on luxury bus services and opposed the interim report of the high-level committee constituted to study ways and means to revive the RTC. The unions opposed hiring of buses, sale of properties and closure of body building unit and tyre retreading shops.

Among the other demands, the JAC demanded freedom to procure new buses, permission to recruit all categories of employees on regular basis, effective steps to curb illicit operations of private vehicles and ban on parking of private buses in the vicinity of the RTC bus station. The JAC sought reduction of sales tax on HSD oil to lower levels as in the case of railways and airways.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous | Engagements |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |