People's Democracy

IN a statement issued on October 26, the secretariat of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) condemned the inhuman repression unleashed on the striking workers of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC). About 1600 workers have been arrested since October 15 and more than 500 have been booked under the ESMA. Also, 260 CITU activists were put behind bars only for expressing solidarity with the workers. Besides, the government has been trying to break the strike by bringing outsiders to operate the buses and thus creating a riotous situation.

Yet, this arrogant state-sponsored terror unleashed by the Chandrababu Naidu government could not break the morale of the 1,25,000 APSRTC workers, who are on strike since October 15. They are demanding reversal of the discriminatory and anti-state transport policy of the TDP government and revision of wages that is long overdue.

The CITU congratulated the APSRTC workers for their heroic struggle against the policy of the state government. It urged the TDP government to see reason and shun arrogance. The CITU said the state government’s plea of losses being incurred by APSRTC, for denial of wage revision to state transport workers, is totally baseless. The APSRTC’s losses are not because of any operational deficiency but because of the burden of discriminatory, 15 per cent motor vehicle tax imposed on the APSRTC by the state government, compared to only 9 per cent on the private transport operators. The APSRTC is also forced to shoulder the burden of concessions granted by the government to different sections, in absence of any matching reimbursement from the state exchequer.

These policies led to a loss to the APSRTC to the tune of Rs 832 crore every year. The APSRTC is coughing out more than Rs 400 crore as the cost of granting undue concessions to the private operators. If these discriminatory policies are corrected and the government bears the burden of its own policy decisions, the APSRTC would earn a profit of Rs 618 crore a year.

Reiterating full support to the APSRTC workers’ strike, the CITU demanded that the chief minister take urgent steps for a negotiated settlement with the joint action committee of the workers instead of resorting to terror tactics. It also called upon the working class and democratic people all over the country to stand in solidarity with the striking workers. (INN)