Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s decision to merge the fund-starved AP State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) with the government has come sooner than it was expected and has taken everybody by surprise.
Leaders of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) representing various trade unions in the public sector transport are celebrating what they see as their ‘victory’ achieved through a relentless fight for their rights while officials at the helm of the organisation are trying to gear up for a new set-up without much clue.
Asked for their response to the development on Saturday when they emerged from the talks where Principal Secretary, Transport and Roads and Buildings T.M. Krishna Babu, conveyed to the JAC leaders the Chief Minister’s willingness to merge the organisation with the government, the officials merely said that Mr. Jagan is only trying to fulfil his election promise. But privately, many of them confess that things have started moving faster than they thought.
High-level panel
The merger issue has been included for discussion in the Cabinet meeting. Mr. Jagan wants a high-level committee constituted to study the nitty-gritty of the merger and sources indicate that former IPS officer Anjaneya Reddy who worked as Managing Director of the APSRTC in the past, will be roped in to head the panel to be represented by the officials and the unions.
Hoary past
The ‘takeover’ decision is a major development for the public sector giant which has its origin in 1932. Established by the Nizam State Rail and Road Transport Department (NSR-RTD), a wing of the Nizam Railway in the erstwhile Hyderabad State, with all of 27 buses and 166 employees. From the Department of Nizam State Railway in 1932, it changed into the Department of Hyderabad State Government in 1951 and in 1958, it became the public carrier the ASPRTC is today.
The APSRTC operates 12,027 buses, connecting 14,123 villages and serving 2372 million passengers per year. The strength of the employees has grown to 53,261 who work from 128 bus stations to ensure smooth operation of the fleet of vehicles that criss cross 3,803 routes, touching 427 bus stations in the 13 districts of the State.
The vast network of vehicles operates under the administrative control of 12 regional managers in four zones. Weighed down by enormous financial crisis, the organisation suffers from a cumulative revenue losses to the tune of ₹ 7,000 crore and almost equal amount of bank loans and other liabilities. “It is not that we have not been performing well. Despite an increase in the Occupancy Ratio to 80 %, we are unable to make ends meet. Under these circumstances, merger seems to be the only option,” said an official.
