Finally the Andhra Pradesh state government assured 43% as salary hike to the RTC employees and asked them to resume their services immediately.

It was expected that a final decision of the government regarding the salary hike would be out on Wednesday and as expected, the Andhra Pradesh government have agreed to hike the salaries of RTC employees by 43%.

It is known that the salaries are to be revised  from April 1st 2013. So the 43% hike is to be counted from that date itself. But the government said that it cannot afford to pay those arrears at this moment.

Arrears at the time of retirement:

Regarding the arrears, a small conflict again arose with the unions. Explaining about the situation, Minister Atchannaidu said, with the present allotted hike itself, RTC runs with 900 crores loss, and if the past arrears are also counted, the loss would be another Rs.1108 crores and thus pleaded them to compromise on the issue.

But as the situations turned worse, he further assured that all those arrears would be paid at the time of retirement to the employees. Till date, the employees who are already retired will be paid in their arrears on Dussehra and Diwali. The officials specified that, though the AP government is facing huge financial crisis, it still managed to declare the hike, keeping in mind the welfare of the RTC employees 

Employees union in joy:

It seems to be like RTC employees agreed to this commitment and expressed their joy. Employee Union (EU) member, Padmakar thanked the government for the positive response.

By Phani