APSRTC board has decided against increasing the retirement age

The AP State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) board has decided against increasing the retirement age of the employees from 58 to 60.

The outcome of the board meeting held on Tuesday dashed the hopes of the employees who were eagerly looking forward to a favourable decision. Citing the accumulated revenue losses, representatives of the RTC management said it would not be possible to raise the retirement age ‘at this crucial juncture.’The recent hike in the prices of petrol and diesel have only added to the woes of the corporation which is struggling to overcome financial crisis..

“In addition to the accumulated losses to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees, RTC incurs an additional loss of 240 crore every year . We spend more than 30 crore on diesel. Now with the increase in the price of diesel, we pay an additional 7 per litre on fuel,” Varla Ramaiah, Chairman of the APSRTC, told The Hindu on Tuesday.He said in financial year 2016-17, the revenue losses were to the tune of 745 crore. “We somehow managed to bring them down to 435 crore by introducing a series of measures, but the fuel price hike has again put us in a precarious position, ” he rued.

Mr. Ramaiah said implementation of the proposal to increase retirement age would impose an additional burden of 1300 crore on the corporation it could ill-afford.The RTC Chairman said a majority of the working class (drivers and conductors) were not very keen on increase in the retirement age. “Of the 54,960 employees, 45,000 comprise the working class,” he pointed out, and went on to hint at unrest among the white-collar staff who would perhaps think of exploring legal options.

The meeting also turned down proposal to hire 25 % to 30 % private buses to augment the services. Since the government has announced that it would grant 200 crore to the corporation for purchase of new buses, the management decided against hiring private buses. In September last year, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had announced at the golden jubilee celebrations of the National Mazdoor Union that the government had increased the retirement age of the RTC employees without even their asking.

This was followed by GO 138 which made it applicable to both corporations and institutions under 9th and 10th Schedules of the AP reorganisation Act. RTC comes under Schedule 9.