The merger of 51,000-odd employees of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) with the state government with effect from the New Year Day was a historic decision by the YSR Congress party government led by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Across the state, the RTC employees, who have now become the state government employees enjoying all the benefits of the latter, have celebrated this historic moment. At many places, the employees performed milk bath to the portrait of Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday.
The merger of RTC employees with the government has not been witnessed in any state in the country.
In the neighbouring Telangana state, the RTC employees have almost lost their jobs for putting forth their demand and going in for 55-day long strike. Definitely, the Telangana RTC employees must be envious of their counterparts in Andhra.
The YSRC government has not lost the opportunity to get the maximum publicity to this development by giving half page advertisements to the leading dailies including Eenadu and Sakshi on their front pages.
As usual, Andhra Jyothy was left out because of its anti-establishment stand and the latter did not hide its disgruntlement by publishing a negative report saying the RTC employees are not very much jubilant, but are skeptical about the merger, since they would be losing pension.
The payment of second instalment of Rs 2,000 to each farmer under YSR Rythu Bharosa scheme from this month is yet another interesting news that found space only in Sakshi and it was ignored by both Eenadu and Andhra Jyothy.
Instead, both the dailies dedicated huge space for the ongoing agitation by farmers of Amaravati, Naidu’s visit to some of the villages and blaming the people for defeating the TDP and the related comments and counter-comments by political leaders.
The announcement made by Indian Space Research Organisation chairman K Sivan on Mission Gaganyan in which it would send four astronauts into the space is yet another important news that was carried prominently by all the dailies. In fact, it was a flyer for Andhra Jyothy.
Sakshi has published a banner story on the state government’s proposal to make education completely job-oriented by introducing one-year internship programme at the undergraduate level. It would go a long way in improving the employable skills of the students soon after the graduation.
On the other hand, Andhra Jyothy’s banner story was completely negative – it is about the ruling YSR Congress party terrorizing the opposition parties, their leaders and sympathisers by foisting false cases on them, pressurizing them to join the ruling party and intimidating them to close down their business activities.
What is worse, it also wrote another negative story on how YSRC government has allegedly raised curtains for a major land mafia in Visakhapatnam for which certain lands were given exemption from prohibition of sale.
The slowdown in New Year revelry, introduction of one nation card-one country scheme and new rules of TRAI ordering telecast of 200 channels for Rs 130 a month be followed by cable operators were other news that made it to the front pages of the major dailies on Thursday.