The race between Telangana State Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and Andhra Pradesh State Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reached to peak level and it was clearly reflected in announcing fitment to the RTC workers on Wednesday.
Chandrababu Naidu, who was initially in favor of increasing only 27 percent, suddenly increased it up to 43 percent, coming to know that his counterpart KCR will increase fitment up to 43 percent. But in a shocking development, KCR announced one percent more than his counterpart Chandrababu, at 44 percent. “It will definitely show its impact on Andhra Pradesh RTC employees and also on the government employees of Telangana”, remarked Sridhar, a private employee and a commuter. He further felt that the Chief Minister would have announced the same much before to avert the strike, the losses to RTC and the inconvenience to the commuters.
On the other hand, the Telangana Chief Minister himself has announced at a press conference that the Corporation has been running with Rs.400 crore losses and the Corporation incurred Rs.100 crore loss due to the eight day strike. The Chief Minister has also hinted fare hike in future. Another commuter Ravi opined that the ultimate victims in the game between RTC employees and the governments are ‘ the common men’. “There would have been no loss to RTC if the government announced the same much before the strike, which incurred Rs.100 crore leading to hike in bus fares”, he opined. (NSS)
