The Telangana government is likely to adopt Andhra Pradesh’s model of absorbing Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) employees.
It was on Monday that the Cabinet approved a decision to treat 43,373 TSRTC workers as government employees, a primary demand of TSRTC’s trade unions which Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao dismissed, during the 2019 strike, which left public transport largely affected.
In 2019, Andhra Pradesh issued the APSRTC (Absorption of Employees into Government Service) Act of 2019. Section 3 of this Act states that “employees of the APSRTC shall stand absorbed into Government service into such department.”
Speaking to The Hindu, a senior officer aware of the recent developments said that Telangana would adopt AP’s model of absorption. The finer details, in connection with minor changes if required, were being worked out, he said. “We will mostly adopt the APSRTC (Absorption of Employees into Government Service) Act. The issue of assets division or absorption is not there. The original APSRTC Act (of 1950) will remain,” the officer said.
The APSRTC is a part of Schedule IX of the AP Reorganisation Act of 2014.
TSRTC’s trade unions estimate that the transport corporation has a land bank of around 1,400 acres, which collectively is worth several thousand crores of rupees. These land parcels include those near the Bus Bhavan in Musheerabad, Bus Body Building Unit, bus stations across districts, including the Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station, and Jubilee Bus Station, among several others.
