RTC Strike Ends As AP, TS Accept Major Demands

The eight-day long strike by the employees of the Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) ended on Wednesday with both the Telangana and the Andhra Pradesh governments accepting the major demands of the striking RTC unions.

While the AP government accepted the demand for a 43% fitment allowance, the Telangana government announced a 44% fitment allowance.

This will cause an additional burden of Rs 900 crores on the AP government, said AP's Labour Minister K Atchan Naidu.

He said that the AP government had also agreed to clear the arrears of the last three months during the Dasara and Diwali periods. The remaining arrears would be cleared at the time of retirement.

Minutes after AP's decision, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao himself addressed a press conference announcing 44% fitment to the APSRTC employees of Telangana.

He said that the fitment would be implemented from June and that arrears would be cleared in two phases. While 55% of the arrears would be paid in the form of bonds, the remaining would be paid during the Dasara and Ugadi periods.

KCR also announced that all the contract employees would be regularized from Thursday.

The state government will also withdraw all the cases booked against the RTC workers during the strike period.

While the AP government said there would be no immediate hike in the RTC fares, KCR gave clear indications of an increase in the tariffs. (INN)