Travel in Telangana gets tougher

Hyderabad: For the people of Telan-gana, the RTC services are almost indispensable. If the people didn’t know this already, they have definitely understood it now, thanks to the indefinite strike called by the RTC employees.

Raju, a car driver working in Hyderabad, now commutes from Siddipet in a TSRTC Palle Velugu bus operated by private staff for which he paid `100, “which is `20 more than the usual price. I was not given a ticket. Also, I was made to sit beside the driver, on the large box that houses the gearbox,” he said.

Even small trips in the state’s hinterland have become quite expensive. People wanting to travel from Siddipet to Sircilla — a distance of 40 km — pay almost `100 per head for space in a shared auto rickshaw. “Operators of the buses that I could see were charging passengers hugely inflated amounts,” added Raju.

Raj Kumar, a Hyderaba-di with roots in Kari-mnagar and Peddapalli, said conditions in his hometown are similar. With no direct train connectivity between Karim-nagar and Hyderabad, he has always depended on road transport. Kumar said most travellers are using private taxis.

“The normal fare for a taxi ride between Karimnagar and Hydera-bad is `150-`200. Curren-tly, operators are asking for `600,” he said.

As Kumar had to go to Peddapalli, he and his family had to shell out another `150 per head for a jeep ride, the normal price of which is just `40. Kumar added that many of his acquaintances are using their motorcycles for the three-hour-long journey between the two cities.

However, P. Jeevan Prasad, the regional manager of TSRTC in Karimnagar, claims that the bus services are running at 84 per cent capacity.  “There is no dearth of services. But to expect services to be running as usual is not right.”

Sources said TSRTC is struggling to find drivers who will operate their buses regularly and reliably. TSRTC has hired drivers as a stop gap measure.

Now more people are expected to travel to Hyderabad now that Dasara festivities are over. They will be trickling into the city after the weekend and transport will be a big expense unless they can afford the luxury of travelling in their own cars.