RTC rental bus owners call off strike after assurance

Hyderabad : The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation has assured to address the problems of the rental bus owners and agreed to establish a committee to resolve their issues. The bus owner’s primary apprehension revolves around the increasing number of passengers attributed to the recently launched Maha Lakshmi scheme. Their concerns include overcrowding, which they claim will lead to mileage issues, insurance coverage, and severe financial losses.

In a meeting at Bus Bhavan on Thursday, the bus owners brought their problems to the attention of the corporation. According to the Telangana Rented Bus Owners Welfare Association, the free bus service for women is causing a huge overcrowding of buses and potential mileage problems. They say that the consumption of fuel has increased with the overweight and are also concerned with insurance coverage. They fear that if bus limits are exceeded and accidents occur, they may suffer significant financial damages due to insufficient coverage. They also highlighted the losses and how their monthly payments were affected.

The rental bus owners stated that they brought the issues to the attention of TSRTC and that the corporation responded positively. They announced that TSRTC had committed to resolving the issues by January 10 and called off the strike.

TSRTC MD, VC Sajjanar, said that the corporation would resolve all the problems within a week and asked them to call off the strike, which was to be held from January 5.

“The hired bus owners have brought a few issues to the attention of the TSRTC management. They said that they are facing difficulties after the implementation of the Maha Lakshmi scheme. A long discussion was held with the top officials of the corporation, and it was decided that a high-level committee would be set up as per the directions of Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar. The committee will examine all aspects from a scientific point of view. The corporation compiles the data of buses, hires them and makes a decision. Hire bus owners have responded positively to this,” said Sajjanar.

Later, the bus owners agreed and informed that the rental buses would run as usual per schedule from Friday and clarified that there would not be a strike.

The TSRTC MD announced that free bus service for women would be available for Sankranti and that special services would also be deployed to absorb the festive rush.

The RTC officials explained that an average of 27 lakh women were traveling under the Maha Lakshmi scheme, and zero tickets worth around Rs 10 crore were being issued every day.