In the wake of the outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus, the government wants to depute 25% of the staff of the AP State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) (now Public Transport Department - PTD) to the police and revenue wings to meet the emergency situation.
The decision, however, has not gone down well with the RTC Employees Union leaders who insist that the corporation staff be allowed to work for its parent wing.
Request by Collectors
Following requests made by the district Collectors with the Regional Managers of the corporation for arrangement of transportation of the stranded passengers at border points and of people from the quarantine centres to villages besides shifting of vegetables and medicines, it was decided to depute the PTD staff to police and revenue departments.
The services of the Divisional Managers and the supervisory staff of RTC are to be utilised for emergency operations. Employees above 55 years of age would be made to sit in office or utilised for emergency duties while services of women employees would be utilised in the second phase. If their services were needed in the first phase, they would be deputed in batches by rotation.
Pregnant women and differently-abled staff have been exempted and all employees deputed for special duties will attend in full uniform.
‘Threats being issued’
RTC employees’ union leaders Y.V. Rao and P. Damodara Rao, in a statement on Tuesday, said after the RTC merger and creation of the PTD, they were part of the government and it was their duty to assist the government in such hour of crisis.
But they found fault with the ‘authoritarian’ attitude of the second-rung officials in the corporation who, they alleged, had threatened the staff of strict action if they failed to report to the respective departments allocated to them.
Practical problems
The leaders said deployment of RTC staff to ‘unrelated departments’ was not a good idea as they neither had any proficiency in handling the situation nor were they given any training for the purpose. They said the RTC management should also think of the health aspect of its staff being deployed to other departments.
In view of the lockdown, it would also be difficult for the RTC staff to reach their duties immediately, they pointed out and reiterated that the government roll back its decision and allow them to work from their own department.
