Stage is set for the merger of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation into the state government. With this, nearly 53,000 employees of the RTC will now become state government employees.
A formal decision to this effect will be taken by the Andhra Pradesh cabinet, headed by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday.
Merger of RTC into the state government was one of the many promises made by Jagan during his padayatra and subsequent election campaign.
On Tuesday, Jagan gave an in-principle approval to the report submitted by the six-member Committee on it headed by former IPS C Anjaneya Reddy, at CM Camp office at Tadepalli in Guntur.
The meeting was attended by Transport Minister Perni Nani, Finance Minister B Rajendranath Reddy and officials from APSRTC.
As part of the merger of the APSRTC into the government, a separate department called Public Transport Department, will be created.
The additional financial burden on the state government on account of the merger will be around Rs 3,600 crore every year.
After approval from the Cabinet, all the employees will be considered as state government employees.
RTC Employees Union president YV Rao said that it is a decades-old demand from the Corporation. Now, it came true with the determination of Chief Minister.