The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) Employees’ Unions’ JAC has announced a State-wide stir if the government does not immediately withdraw its decision to allow private operators to run electric buses.

The Joint Action Committee (JAC) was formed during a meeting of different employees’ unions in Vijayawada on Monday. National Mazdoor Unity Association (NMUA) State president Y. Srinivasa Rao and his RTC Employees’ Union counterpart Palisetti Damodara Rao will be the convenors of the JAC.

Addressing the media after discussing the impact of the electric bus policy on the APSRTC employees, the convenors said that APSRTC should purchase electric buses and employ its own drivers instead of roping in private operators.

“Instead of considering such suggestions, the State government and the APSRTC are bent on handing over not only electric buses, but also the bus depots to private operators on lease,” they said.

The convenors feared that this policy would put the future of APSRTC as a Public Sector Unit at risk and lead to privatisation.

“At a time when the government and the corporation should take steps to increase the number of buses as per the increasing passengers and recruit more drivers, such a policy has instilled fears among the thousands of employees,” the JAC said.

Further, the APSRTC management should procure 4,000 buses to reduce the burden on the employees caused by the implementation of the Stree Shakti scheme. The management should also take up recruitment drives to fill the 10,000 vacancies, they demanded.

Later, the JAC members said a representation would be submitted to the APSRTC Vice-Chairman and Managing Director on June 11. Between June 16 and 20, protests have been planned in select cities, and on June 23 and 24, the employees across the State would go on a strike, they said.