Hyderabad: The TSRTC has failed to replace the private contract carriers whose services were cancelled after the row over their registration. The TSRTC has been able to increase interstate buses by only 10 per cent, which barely meets the demand. A TSRTC official said the corporation was operating additional buses based on demand. “We need interstate agreements to operate buses to destinations like Thiruvananthapuram and Coimbatore,” the official said.
Joint transport commissioner J. Pandurang Naik said RTC buses were stage carriers while the private buses were contract carriers. “RTC should take stage carrier permits from other states and it should not operate buses as contract carriers. For this, it should have interstate agreements with other state governments,” he said.
“The erstwhile AP government had such agreements. As per Section 102 of the AP Reorganisation Act, it can be applicable to TSRTC. But, an interstate agreement is needed between Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh,” he said.
Bus owners blame AP, Telangana for fallout:
Following the row over Arunachal-registered buses, private operators on Monday said they were operating services as per the motor vehicle laws. Orange Tours MD M. Sunil Reddy, Mr G. Madhu Babu of Kaveri Travels, Mr Vikram of Bharathi Travels and Mr Srinivas Reddy of Yellow Travels said they had gone to the Arunachal Pradesh government as there was no provision to register 2+1 sleeper coaches in the Telugu states.
“We are bearing a greater burden for registering buses in Aruna-chal Pradesh. We are following all rules with documents and officials can take action against us if we violate any rule. We have been suffering with the acts of transport department of AP and TS and we plan to approach courts,” the operators said. They said the operators were paying Rs 7,500 per seat for all India permits and Rs 3,750 per seat to the state government every quarter.
They said they were not competing with the RTC and were operating long-distance services. They claimed no sleeper bus had met with an accident. They alleged that the seizure of sleeper buses was the result of “political strategies.”
