Telangana BJP leader urges citizens and NRIs to support and save TSRTC

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader AP Jithender Reddy, recently, urged citizens and all NRIs to save Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) and to support the corporation.

The commitment of food supplies

Reddy, a former MP, attended an all-party RTC meeting at the corporation's union office on Thursday. He supported the RTC employees' protest at Mahabubnagar bus stand, read a statement. He personally committed Rs. 1 lakh for food supplies for RTC employees.

"Even Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao first came to Hyderabad from Karimnagar on an RTC bus. All his industrialist friends used RTC buses to travel in their struggling days," Reddy claimed. The BJP leader has discussed setting up a 'Save RTC' fund with RTC JAC Convenor Ashwathama Reddy.

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This encouragement comes a day after the BJP alleged that the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao led TRS is eager to privatise the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC). The party had also accused the Chief Minister of wanting to privatise the company to 'promote his own people'. BJP slammed the TRS government and said the state government is not paying the employees their salaries.

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Earlier on regarding the case, the Telangana Government expressed its unwillingness to go ahead with the high court’s proposal on setting up a high-powered committee to look into the issues of TSRTC employees. More than 48,000 employees have been protesting and sitting on an indefinite strike for more than 40 days now. The strike demands the merger of the TSRTC with the government transport department and a pay revision among other things. 

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In response to that, the court offered the state government to constitute the committee with three retired Supreme Court judges to sort out the issue of TSRTC workers and asked Advocate General BS Prasad to respond to the suggestion. However, an affidavit on behalf of the government was filed expressing its unwillingness over the issue.

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(With ANI inputs)