Transport Minister Perni Venkataramaiah on Wednesday said that Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, by merging the loss-making A.P. State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) with the government, has demonstrated that willpower trumps experience.
Addressing a function organised at the Pandit Nehru Bus Station by the APSRTC employees to ‘thank’ the Chief Minister for conceding their long-pending demand of merging the corporation with the government, Mr. Venkataramaiah said that while former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was a seasoned politician with over 40 years of experience, he had rejected the workers’ demand for a merger calling it ‘unfeasible’.
“However, Mr. Jagan proved Naidu wrong within 200 days of coming to power. Despite several hurdles, the Chief Minister went ahead with a steely resolve to fulfil the promise he had made to the workers,” Mr. Venkataramaiah said.
The Transport Minister said that under TDP rule, the APSRTC workers lived under constant fear of the loss-making organisation shutting down operations. But Mr. Jagan put such apprehensions to rest by announcing his decision to merge it with the government and approving the proposal in the first Cabinet meeting, he said.
“Employees need not harbour any fears as Mr. Jagan is determined to sort out all their issues. They will be paid all the pending payments under the Credit Cooperative Society, pension scheme and other schemes very soon,” Mr. Venkataramaiah assured.
The Minister said that APSRTC employees can repose faith in the Chief Minister for their well-being just like the people in the State trust APSRTC for its safety and integrity. He said a retired RTC worker receiving a monthly pension of less than ₹10,000 and with no other source of income, would be given a ration card and other benefits that are extended to the poor.
‘Historic decision’
Endowments Minister Velampalli Srinivasa Rao said that the merger was a historic decision taken by the YSRCP government in the State. The Public Transport Department Managing Director M.T. Krishna Babu called the merger a first-of-its-kind in the country.
Vijayawada Central MLA Malladi Vishnu said that instead of helping the corporation to come out of its financial crisis, the Chandrababu Naidu government had compounded its woes by using APSRTC buses for tours to Polavaram project, shifting people for government programmes and other purposes and not paying any money to the Corporation authorities.
K. Rakshana Nidhi and Jaganmohan Rao, MLAs of Thuruvuru and Nandigama respectively, YSR Congress Party’s trade union leaders, APSRTC union leaders and others spoke at the meeting.
