Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday launched a new fleet of TSRTC buses under “service at your doorstep” scheme.
The fleet includes mini AC buses ‘Vajra’ and mini non-AC ‘Palle Velugu’ buses, apart from Super Luxury, Express, Rajadhani and Garuda Plus buses.
Speaking after flagging off the buses, Mr Rao said, “Everyone in the TSRTC should become a KCR to make the corporation profitable.”
Initially, TSRTC will run 30 AC-mini buses ‘vajra’ to Warangal and 18 buses to Nizamabad from Hyderabad. Passengers for the 21-seater mini AC buses will be charged Rs 300 for Warangal and Rs 350 for Nizamabad.
Mr Rao said the successive governments in undivided AP had pushed the RTC into a crisis but it has been revived by the TRS government which extended it Rs 750 crore financial assistance.
He said that the GHMC will henceforth release funds to city RTC wing every month instead of every quarter or more like earlier to minimise the losses suffered by RTC on account of running over 3,000 buses in GHMC limits.
The CM said, “Vajra buses is a new concept that has never been adopted anywhere in the country by any state’s RTC. These buses will pick up passengers from different locations and colonies where there is demand instead of asking passengers to come to Imlibun and
MGBS bus stations to board the bus. Similarly, these buses will drop passengers in different locations instead of being confined to two bus stations. I am confident that this initiative would receive good response from passengers and there will be more demands from all other districts for similar services.” Mr Rao said he was devising plans to bail out RTC from debt-trap.
“Like we recently bailed out Discoms from huge debt burden by joining UDAY scheme, I am planning to devise similar scheme to bring RTC out of debt-burden. When I was transport minister in 1996, I was successful in bringing out the RTC from the losses. The RTC was debt-ridden, but with the cooperation of officials and staff, I could turnaround it and it could earn a profit of '14 crore then.”
The CM added, “When I could do that, you can do it too. It requires transport minister, chairman and MD to work hard in coordination. There is no fault with the employees.
You have to make them work. If RTC is in losses today, it shows lapses on the part of higher-ups and not staff.”
RTC initiative
From Hyderabad
- 4 routes, 96 boarding points and 415 colonies to be covered
- Saroornagar to Warangal
- Mehdipatnam to Warangal, Nizamabad
- KPHB to Warangal, Nizamabad
From Warangal
- 4 routes in Hyderabad, 96 dropping points and to cover 415 colonies in Hyderabad
- 3 routes in Warangal, 63 boarding points and to cover 315 colonies
- Warangal railway station to Mehdipatnam, KPHB, AS Rao Nagar
