The State Cabinet has decided to merge the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation with the government fulfilling the long cherished dream of the thousands of employees working in the corporation.
The State Cabinet which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao here on Monday took a decision to this effect. Briefing reporters later, Minister for Municipal Administration K. T. Rama Rao said the Cabinet had discussed the issues pertaining to the TSRTC in detail and resolved to merge the Corporation with the government. The move was aimed at protecting the Corporation and strengthening the public transport system in the State.
Accordingly, a sub-committee of officials headed by Finance Special Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao had been constituted to study the modalities pertaining to the merger and prepare guidelines accordingly. The decision comes as a relief to 43,373 employees working in different categories in the Corporation as they would become government staff once the merger process was completed.
Mr. Rama Rao said the Cabinet met for more than five hours and discussed in detail about the impact of the unprecedented rains and floods in the State. Several districts, particularly those in the northern part of the State suffered damages to roads and other civil infrastructure because of the incessant rains. It was accordingly decided to release ₹500 crore as immediate relief for taking up relief and restoration of the infrastructure. “The Finance department has been asked to release funds for taking up restoration works on a war footing,” he said.
The officials concerned had also been directed to prepare a detailed report on the losses incurred by farmers and the government would take appropriate measures once the report was submitted. He hoped that the Centre would come forward to extend its assistance to provide relief to the flood affected people. “Never in the past has the Centre extended its helping hand in the event of natural calamities. Hopefully, it will extend its assistance this time around,” he said.
He said it was resolved to collect details of more than 40 people who were reportedly washed away in the floods so that ex-gratia could be paid to their families. The Cabinet had also resolved to take steps to effectively rehabilitate more than 27,000 people who were shifted to rehabilitation centres in the aftermath of the rains/floods.
Making a specific mention about the flooding of Khammam district, the Minister said it was proposed to construct a retaining wall along the Munneru river passing through Khammam town to avoid losses to due natural calamities in future.
Bills returned by Governor to be passed again
The Cabinet, Mr. Rama Rao, said discussed about the Bills passed by the Legislature that were returned by Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan. It was therefore decided to pass the Bills again in the forthcoming session of the legislature so that the Governor would have no option but to clear them.
Policy for orphan children
The Cabinet had also resolved to come up with a comprehensive policy governing orphan children, whom he described as “children of the State”, and the officials of the Welfare departments had been asked to work out modalities in this direction. “We want to see that children are take care of at every stage till they become capable of living on their own,” he said.
Nominated MLC candidates
The Cabinet had selected K. Satyanarayana hailing from the Scheduled Tribes and Dasoju Sravan as MLCs under the Governor’s quota. “The Cabinet has taken a decision and hopefully, the Governor will clear the names,” Mr. Rama Rao said.
Land to be given to Mamnoor airport
The Minister alleged that the Airports Authority of India had been setting aside the State government’s request for another airport at Mamnoor in Warangal on one pretext or the other. The government had therefore decided to handover 253 acre land as requested by the AAI so that the process for setting up of the proposed airport could be speeded up.
