Talks with Bus Owners Successful; Strike Call Withdrawn

Vijayawada: In a bid to provide relief to passengers ahead of the Sankranti festival rush, talks between the state road transport corporation and charter bus owners’ associations on Thursday led to withdrawal of the proposed strike from January 12.

APSRTC confirmed that chartered buses will operate as usual during Sankranti, enabling passengers to travel hassle-free across the state.

During the talks at the RTC House here, RTC vice-chairman and MD Dwaraka Tirumala Rao was seen appealing to the associations not to inconvenience passengers during the festive season.

Representatives of bus owners associations put their long-pending issues before the APSRTC management. Tirumala Rao assured them that the issues would be resolved by January 20. After this, the associations decided to cancel their strike.

Senior APSRTC officials, including executive directors KS Brahmananda Reddy, A Appalaraju, Ravi Varma and chief accounting officer N Sudhakar Rao, participated in the discussions.