RTC Recognition Union Elections Soon: Minister Ponnam

Telangana Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar has announced that recognition union elections will be held in the RTC soon. He said the government would hold discussions with the newly elected representatives of the workers’ unions after the elections and expedite the process of merging the RTC with the government. Responding to a question in the Assembly on Thursday about installing CCTV cameras in RTC buses, the minister said the previous government had run the corporation for nearly a decade with a retired executive director and had abolished the unions. He said demand for RTC buses had increased following the Mahalakshmi scheme. Under the PM E-Drive scheme, 2,200 buses are expected to arrive in Hyderabad, along with another 100 mini-buses. Fifty buses will be deployed for the Old City and another 50 for MMTS and Metro connectivity. Bus terminals will also be constructed near the ORR, while CCTV cameras will be installed in RTC buses.

Power Minister Vivek Venkataswamy said the government was considering setting up a separate corporation for the welfare of outsourcing employees in the state. Responding to a question on workers’ welfare in the Assembly, he said a committee had already been constituted to examine the issue. The minister also assured the House that an inquiry would be conducted into allegations that minimum wages were not being implemented at NTPC and Singareni. Earlier, Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao urged the government to revise the wage policy for outsourcing workers, pointing out that although the minimum wage in gram panchayats had been fixed at Rs 9,500, employees were reportedly being denied higher wages even where institutions had the financial capacity to pay more. He also called for a dedicated corporation to handle outsourcing employees’ wages and prevent alleged exploitation by agencies.