Bill to treat RTC employees as govt staff passed by Andhra Assembly

The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Monday cleared the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (Absorption of Employees into Government Services) Bill 2019 under which all Road Transport Corporation (RTC) employees will be treated as government staff from January 1, 2020.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy announced in the House that all RTC employees will be treated as government staff from January 1, 2020 and the retirement age will be increased from 58 years to 60 years.

"It has been a long-cherished dream of the employees and their demands were pending for long. We are happy to announce that their dreams have come true during our term," Reddy told the House.

With the merger, 52,000 employees of RTC will be absorbed into the state government and will come under the transport department.

The government will have to spend Rs 3,600 core towards salaries of the newly absorbed employees, the Chief Minister said adding that "our wish is to see them happy."

The Bill, tabled by Transport Minister Perni Venkataramaiah (Nani), said that a committee headed by C Anjaneya Reddy will look into various issues including the merger and feasibility of substituting the present buses with electric buses among other issues.