GUNTUR: The Ponnur depot of Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation seems to get a reprieve and may not be closed before the end of this financial year, thanks to the effort of local employees.

Ever since the RTC management proposed to close the depot in the Guntur region last month, the earnings of the depot have been constantly going up. Of the 13 depots in the district, it has left behind six others in the per km earning calculation. The RTC management has decided to keep the closure move in cold storage for the time being, but monitor its functioning regularly.

Regular monitoring

RTC Managing Director M.V. Krishna Rao is regularly keeping a watch on all the 23 depots proposed to be closed in the State. However, with conditions looking up, the Managing Director is likely to take stock of the situation after some months, according to RTC officials.

At Rs.13.10 per km for Tuesday, the depot is doing better than Mangalagiri, Repalle, Bapatla, Sattenapalli, Piduguralla and Vinukonda. This gives a sigh of relief to 297 workers of the depot, who are going to villages around Ponnur, forming small teams and propagating the need to patronise the State-owned buses.

Their message is travel safe at reasonable rates. They are supported by APSRTC Employees' Union, affiliated to the CPI and Staff and Workers' Federation, affiliated to CPI(M). However, the recognized National Mazdoor Union, the majority union, toes the management line.

Agitation planned

Meanwhile, office-bearers of the Employees' Union are touring all districts in the State to garner support for a massive agitation to be launched in the near future for wage revision.

It's State unit president N.A. Khan, vice-president N. Somaraju and general secretary K. Karunakar said here on Wednesday that the Chief Minister's promise of 5 per cent hike was not acceptable to the union.

They also took strong exception to the RTC proposal to close down 23 deports and merging 10 others with neighbouring depots in the name of reducing losses. The proposed privatisation of 104 routes was nothing but preparing the ground to allow private operators to ply inter-state buses from Chittoor and Ananthapur, Mr. Khan alleged.

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