Buoyed by the massive victory of TRS in Huzurnagar bye-poll, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao declared in his trademark confrontational style on Friday that there was no question of merging the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) and said that there was no future for the TSRTC.
Stating that he has abandoned the idea of saving public transport, the CM said that nobody can save TSRTC. “It is a gone case. TSRTC itself is shutting down. What is there to stop the strike?” the CM remarked while addressing the media.
The CM reiterated that the TSRTC’s merger with the government — which is one of the TSRTC JAC’s main demands — is impossible and would set the wrong precedent.
“As long as the Earth exists, TSRTC won’t be merged. If we merge them, 57 more corporations will come forward with the same demand and the court will ask that when you have merged TSRTC with the government, why can’t you merge them?” he said.
KCR squarely put the blame on the protesting employees and said, “If they want to chop their own legs, why should I stop?”
“This strike is mindless and illegal done with ill-intentions,” he added.
The CM said that he foresaw that TSRTC cannot come out of the financial crisis, and that the TSRTC won’t remain the same.
Calling the protesting JAC 'fools', he said that their demand to merge TSRTC with the government was “unreasonable and unrealistic”.
Furthermore, he said that TSRTC unions often go on strike due to “cheap union politics”.
“Just before union elections, the union leaders will make unreasonable demands for votes and go on strike.” He said that there are TSRTC employees who are innocent, who are being exploited by union leaders.
KCR further added that the TSRTC incurs a loss of Rs 1,200 crore annually and a loss of Rs 13 per km. “When private bus services are running in profits, why is TSRTC incurring losses?" he asked.
Additionally, he said that after the TRS formed the government in 2014, it released Rs 4,250 crore since the state's formation and an additional Rs 425 crore this year. KCR also claimed that they have increased the salary of TSRTC employees by 67%.
The CM had earlier declared that the protesting employees were ‘self-dismissed’. However, he said that they can go and appeal at their respective bus depots, and also added that he is capable of running a profit-taking TSRTC if the unions are abolished.
He said RTC had no money to pay salaries to employees for September as the employees themselves cut the branch they were sitting on by going on strike. He said with economic slowdown, the government too had no money to bail out the RTC.
He claimed that the strike during festival season resulted in loss of Rs 125 crore to Rs 150 crore to RTC, which has accumulated losses of Rs 1,200 crore and outstanding loans of Rs 5,000 crore.