The eight-day long strike by the employees of Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) ended on Wednesday with both the Telangana and Andhra Governments accepting the major demands of striking RTC unions.
While AP Government accepted the demand for 43% fitment allowance, the Telangana Government announced 44% fitment allowance. This would cause an additional burden of Rs 900 crore on the AP Government, said AP's Labour Minister K Atchan Naidu. He said that the AP Government has also agreed to clear the arrears of last three months during the Dasara and Diwali period. The remaining arrears would be cleared at the time of retirement.
Minutes after the AP's decision, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao himself addressed a press conference announcing 44% fitment to the RTC employees of Telangana. He said that the fitment would be implemented from June and arrears would be cleared in two phases. While 55% of arrears would be paid in the form of bonds, the remaining dues would be paid during the Dasara and Ugadi period.
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 AP Government said there would be no immediate hike in RTC fares, KCR gave clear indications of increase the RTC tariff.