Bandi flays RTC fare hikes, cops try to hold him at home

HYDERABAD: TS BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Friday alleged that the TRS government led by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has made the lives of common people miserable by increasing various taxes, power tariff and ticket rates for TSRTC buses.

Sanjay spoke with reporters after interacting with RTC passengers, drivers and conductors at the Jubilee bus station. He said it appears that the Chief Minister does not want the poor and the middle class in Telangana to lead a normal life. Before Sanjay made it to the bus station, high drama was witnessed at his residence with a large number of police personnel deployed, who sought to prevent him from the visit. However, after much back and forth, he was allowed to leave his home.

“In the last few months, the KCR government indiscriminately increased power tariffs, property tax, drinking water cess, and now RTC fares,” he said. The bus fares have been hiked five times in three years, he said, adding that the Chief Minister was robbing the poor of the one mode of transportation they were managing to afford.

For instance, he said a bus ticket from Hyderabad to Karimnagar that cost `200 in 2018, now costs more than `300, and sought an explanation from the government on the need for a new diesel cess on tickets by TSRTC, especially after the Centre cut the Excise duty on the fuel by `17 a litre.

He also said RTC employees were not being salaries on time, and alleged that the Chief Minister turned TSRTC into a debt-ridden entity.