Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Oct 11, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Oct 11, 2005 |
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Roadways APSRTC unions stand firm on strike plan Our Bureau
Visakhapatnam , Oct. 10 ALL the unions of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) are firm on going on strike from October 18, as the State Government's attitude to the problem is "very disappointing and it is not even willing to negotiate with the joint action committee and settle the pending issues", according to Mr R. Lakshmaiah, General Secretary of the APSRTC Staff and Workers' Federation and one of the secretaries of the JAC. At a press meet here on Monday, he said the RTC was running on losses of Rs 1,350 crore which should be attributed to "the flawed policies" of the State Government and the illegal plying of private buses in the State. "They are not operational losses and the RTC is functioning very efficiently, a fact which was acknowledged by Dr Y.S Rajasekhara Reddy himself when he was the opposition leader. In fact, he wrote articles in national newspapers on the issue. But now that he has become the Chief Minister, he is unwilling to take requisite corrective action," he alleged. He said that after a three-day strike a few months ago, the unions had called off the agitation, following the intervention of the AP High Court, but the issues had remained unresolved. "But this time round we will not relent unless the Government addresses our main demands. We want the Government to reduce the tax burden on the RTC. We want tax on city services reduced from 7 per cent to 5 and on district services from 5 per cent to 2. We want the Government to free the RTC of loan burden by at least half. And we want reduction of sales tax on diesel," he said. In response to the recent agitation of the unions, he said, the Government had agreed to reimburse the RTC fully for the concessions given to different sections of passengers and to an extent it had reduced the tax burden. "But that is not suffcient. By these measures, the RTC will get only a relief of Rs 310 crore or so and not Rs 550-600 crore as claimed by the Government. The Government is giving too little to rescue the RTC," he complained. He said the JAC would meet on Tuesday to chalk out the future course of action.
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