TSRTC workers protest against Telangana governor’s delay in clearing draft bill
Tamilisai did not give her consent to draft Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (Absorption of Employees into Government Service) Bill, 2023, that was sent to the Raj Bhavan on Thursday
The Telangana government and state governor Tamilisai Soundararajan indulged in virtual see-saw battle on Saturday over the draft bill on merger of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) with the state government.
The draft bill – Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (Absorption of Employees into Government Service) Bill, 2023, was sent to the Raj Bhavan on Thursday evening seeking the approval of the governor for introduction in the ongoing monsoon session of the state assembly. The governor’s permission to the bill is mandatory because it is a money bill.
However, till Saturday, Tamilisai did not give her consent to the bill, creating a tense situation for the state government, as the assembly session is set to conclude on Sunday.
Angered due to the lack of response from the governor, the RTC employees, belonging to the Telangana Mazdoor Union (TMU) affiliated to the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), held a strike on Saturday. All bus services were stalled for two hours during the day and the employees staged black-badge demonstrations at the bus depots all over the state. “It is not correct on the part of the governor refusing permission for the bill proposed by chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao that would benefit 43,373 families of RTC employees,” TMU general secretary Thomas Reddy said.
In the afternoon, the Raj Bhavan issued a statement saying the governor had written to chief secretary Shanti Kumari seeking certain clarifications on the bill. The bill had no mention of the equity, loan, grant, or any other assistance from the Government of India, the statement quoted the governor as saying.
Secondly, the bill had no clarity on the issues concerning bifurcation of the RTC assets between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, since the corporation was included in Schedule IX of the A P Reorganisation Act 2014.
Tamilisai also pointed out that the draft bill does not specify whether the Industrial Disputes Act and labour laws is applicable to the workers or not, as they safeguard the interests of the existing employees of TSRTC. Similar doubts were expressed over the applicability of pension provisions to TSRTC employees on par with other government employees and cadre normalisation of the employees after absorption into the government.
Within hours, the chief secretary Shanti Kumari sent clarification to all the doubts raised by the governor. In a statement, she said the central government’s equity in the erstwhile APSRTC was ₹61.07 crore. “The proposed bill provides only for absorption of the employees of the TSRTC into government service and the corporation would remain as it is to manage the issues pertaining to equity, loan, grant or other assistance of Government of India,” she said.
Shanti clarified that the nature of TSRTC would not be changed till the bifurcation issues were settled and there was no need to apply industrial disputes act for the employees, whose interests would be protected in the state government. They would get pensions on par with the other employees, the chief secretary said.
Late in the evening, the governor, who returned from Puducherry to Hyderabad, sought further clarifications from the state government on the bill.
A senior official of the transport department, seeking anonymity, said, “We are awaiting response from the governor. If she is satisfied, she would give the consent to the bill, which we are hoping for,” the official added.
