Mahalakshmi Brought Profits For TGSRTC, Says Bhatti

Bhatti held a review meeting at Praja Bhavan with RTC and BC welfare department officials. Ministers Ponnam Prabhakar, finance principal secretary Sandeep Kumar Sultania, special principal secretary Vikas Raj, RTC MD Nagireddy, other joint transport officials, MJP secretary Saidulu, and BC welfare officials participated in the meeting.

Speaking on the occasion, the deputy chief minister said that since coming to power, the Congress government has been taking key measures to strengthen the RTC and support its workers. In particular, he said that the Mahalakshmi Scheme, which provides free bus travel for women, has brought the RTC into profits.

He added that with loans taken from women’s self-help groups and support provided by the government, new buses have been added to the corporation. He also said that the people’s government is supporting the establishment of bus depots and development of bus stations. Along with government support, he advised officials to explore new revenue sources independently.

So far, under the Mahalakshmi Scheme, 255 crore free bus journeys have taken place in the RTC. Bhatti said that the scheme is taking concrete steps toward women’s empowerment. During the previous government’s tenure, PF dues in RTC stood at ₹1,400 crore, which the present government reduced to ₹660 crore within two years. Similarly, CCS dues, which earlier stood at Rs 600 crore, have now been reduced to ₹373 crore.

For free bus travel under the Mahalakshmi scheme, Bhatti instructed officials to enter into an agreement with the Centre for Good Governance and distribute special cards. He directed that these cards should reach every woman in Telangana. He stated that under PM e-DRIVE, 2,800 electric buses are coming to Hyderabad and instructed officials to provide charging stations and necessary infrastructure. He also said that 100 electric buses will be introduced to Nizamabad and Warangal towns under the same scheme.