BRS Alleges Scam in Bus Ticket Vending Machines

 Hyderabad: The BRS on Saturday alleged that TGSRTC was involved in a scam with regard to a contract issued to a private company for purchase of intelligent ticket issue machines (ITIMS), accusing the government of keeping the entire deal a secret.

Party leader Manne Krishank at a press meet said a tender related to ITIMS was kept confidential, raising questions on why such a significant project was not listed on the RTC website. He accused transport minister Ponnam Prabhakar of masterminding the secrecy and asked why tenders called for by the earlier BRS government for ITIMS in February 2023 were abruptly cancelled.

The tender involve the purchase of 13,200 ticket machines which was awarded to a company called Chalo Mobility. “If 30 lakh tickets are issued daily across the state, the commission from each ticket directly benefits this company. According to RTC calculations, if 5.2 million tickets are sold daily over five years, the commission amounts to crores of rupees,” he said.