RTC bus services paralysed

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, OCT. 15. Bus services in the State were crippled on Monday as about 1.25 lakhs employees of the State-owned APSRTC struck work launching their indefinite strike following failure of talks between the Joint Action Committee of the employees unions and the Government. The strike began at 6 a.m..

The JAC leaders claimed `100 per cent success' of the agitation and the management too admitted that ``more than 90 cent staff struck work.'' In the agitation-related violence 91 buses were deflated, eight staff members assaulted and 46 buses damaged when the management tried to take out buses from various depots.

The Chief Minister, Mr.N.Chandrababu Naidu's appeal for withdrawal of the strike did not cut ice with the JAC and it vowed to continue the agitation till the reasonable demands were met. According to the police, 70 employees were detained but the nature of charges against them was not disclosed.

The management and the JAC blamed each other for the breakdown of talks. The JAC leaders - Mr.B.Rama Rao, Mr.P.Ram Mohan Rao and Mr.R.Laxmaiah - accused the Government of offering paltry relief, refusing to concede major demands like wage revision immediately, reduction in MV Tax from 15 per cent, reimbursement of concessions and curbing illegal operations. The Government had offered an ex-gratia to the tune of Rs.100 to Rs.150 per month, the leaders said.

They claimed that 70 per cent of supervisory staff took part in the strike and the corporation could run only skeletal services. Peacefully agitating employees were lathicharged at Uppal, BHEL and Hakimpet in the city and at Kurnool bus stand, they said.

The Vice-Chairman and MD of APSRTC, Mr.R.P.Singh, refuted the version of the JAC leaders and said despite being in losses the management offered a wage revision package with a total financial commitment of Rs.83 crores per annum and the Government had agreed to certain packages regarding MV Tax, reimbursement of concessions up to 50 per cent and controlling illicit operations.

Wage revision was not statutory, yet, the Cabinet Sub-Committee made possible concessions. The last wage revision cost the organisation Rs.70 crores and the Sub-Committee offered a similar procedure, but this was rejected by them.

All that the management pleaded was a year's time to implement the wage revision. At present the corporation was paying 44 per cent of the income to the employees in the form of wages, allowances and other benefits, but they were insisting on a revision which would impose an additional Rs.352-crore financial burden on it. With allowances of Rs.35.29 crores and concessions of Rs.219.59 crores that they demanded, the total would come to Rs.607.64 crores, he said.

The offer of reduction of MV tax on urban services would benefit the corporation by Rs.20 crores. Other demands were always negotiable and there should have been no haste in going ahead with the strike. The JAC could have postponed strike to October 21 to allow minor details to be sorted out. With Rs.620 crore cumulative loss facing the RTC and the interest on loans alone amounting to Rs.80 crores (total loan - Rs.695 crores), the present offer was the best, he said.

The management had planned to operate at least 3,000 buses but due to lack of staff and the intervention of `peaceful agitators' it could run only 895 buses till 6 p.m. While the management fears hardening of stance on both sides, its major worry now is whether its commuters would come back to it once the strike is called off.

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