Govt. cannot stretch further on RTC issue: CM

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, OCT. 18. The Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, has sought to convey once again to the striking APSRTC men that the Government had walked an extra mile to accommodate their demands and cannot stretch further.

Keeping the Government's own constraints and the inconvenience caused to the general public in mind, he appealed to them to call off the strike.

The four-day-old strike figured at the Chief Minister's media interaction here on Thursday. If both sides adopted a rigid

posture, how could the impasse end? Why not call them for talks?

`Where is the question of adamance. I will come with you. Let us go and talk with them. The question is what do we talk? We have offered everything we could', Mr. Naidu responded to the questioner.

Despite stringent financial position, Government had agreed to subsidise Rs 100 crores or 50 per cent of the cost of concessions the RTC gave to different categories of commuters. Something it had steadfastly been rejecting all along. This, he said, at a time when the Government was not able to find Rs 20 crores for house sites to the poor.

The Chief Minister said it was not proper for the Opposition parties to threaten `direct action' on the issue. With Government not having money to meet the demands, the other alternative was to hike bus fares and burden the common man. Last time the bus fares were hiked, RTC was clearly told not to raise the fares for another five years except when there was hike in the price of fuel. He appealed to them not to politicise the issue.

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Section  : Southern States
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