Adilabad: The first New Year’s Eve after formation of Telangana was celebrated with enthusiasm by the villagers of interior Punaguda, a majority of whom are Adivasis, in Talamadugu mandal in Adilabad district on Wednesday night. However, it was different in one aspect. They boozed, danced and made merry but with different persons, government servants, the driver and conductor of the TSRTC bus which shuttles between their village and the district headquarters everyday.
Further, recognising the services of the bus that connects them to the outside world, the tribals decorated it with banana stems, marigold flowers and tied banners wishing all a Happy New Year-2015 both in the front and rear of the bus. The villagers said that the transport services provided by the bus meant a lot for them without which they could not imagine a life. The RTC bus had been the only means of transportation to the villagers since long and it seemed the villagers developed a special bonding with the RTC buses over a period of time.
The driver and conductor of the bus, along with the vehicle, made a night halt in the village and the villagers decked out the bus, as part of the NY celebrations.
The tribals felicitated the driver and the conductor and hoped that the Telangana Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) would prosper and earn more profits in the new year.
Driver E. Gangaiah and conductor K. Ashok Kumar said the New Year’s Eve celebrations really made them happy and that it was a memorable night in their life. "We had never experienced such warmth from people anywhere in the district," they said.
They said, ‘the entire village kept awake in the night, decorated the bus and burst crackers, distributed sweets wishing profitable days for the RTC.’ MPP Sidam Ramulu said the RTC staff should rise up to the expectations of th people and provide quality and timely services to the people.
"We depend on RTC buses for transportation because private operators do not show much interest in running services from our village as it is not profitable,"pointed out Sidam Maruti of Punaguda.
