Hyderabad: The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation has received a good response from private travel agencies to operate their buses in view of the ongoing employees’ strike. The corporation had floated tenders from private entities to run buses for the RTC.
The government has decided to hire 2,248 private buses operators across the state to counter the strike by its regular employees.
According to an RTC official, 22,332 applications were received from across the state, including 332 in the GHMC area for running 248 buses. The applications will be scrutinised within a week, with regard particularly to quotations for route fares.
The corporation is planning to issue permits to those who already have buses within 48 hours, and for those who do not have buses, the government may select tenders through the lottery system.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has already issued instructions to transport minister P. Ajay Kumar and RTC incharge managing director Sunil Sharma at a meeting on Sunday to conduct a quick survey of the routes to be allocated to private buses.
The corporation is currently floating tenders for only buses. Drivers will be appointed by the respective agencies. In the past, the RTC has hired buses when it did not have the funds to purchase new ones. The corporation not clarified how it will pay for these buses since it has claimed that it has no money.
