TSRTC Strike: Ajay Kumar warns private buses against overcharging

Telangana Transport Minister P Ajay Kumar warned of stringent action against private bus operators who overcharge passengers, in an official statement released by the office on October 9. This comes in the backdrop of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation employees' strike. One of the main demands of these TSRTC employees were to merge the Regional Transport Committee (RTC) with the government and to prohibit the use of electric buses. More than two thousand buses did not run in the state due to strikes. However, the latest statement released by the Transport Commissioner addresses other issues. Ajay Kumar and the Principal Secretary-Transport Sunil Sharma held a video conference with all district RTC officials, Executive Directors, regional managers, and divisional managers, on the RTC workers strike. They later released an official statement highlighting the important points of the meeting. 

The official statement 

The highlights of the video conference included, Transport Minister Sri Puvvada Ajay Kumar clarifying that “Adequate number of buses are plying, and the focus now is on the collection of bus ticket charges. Even if one rupee more is collected from the actual ticket price, stringent action will be taken against the person. In every bus, ticket prices of the route will be displayed. Control rooms are also established in all the depots. These control rooms will be managed by a DSP rank officer from the police department.

Read: RTC Strike: BJP, Cong support RTC employees' strike in Telangana

Lodging complaints become easier 

“Behind the driver’s seat, the bus ticket price list and contact numbers of the control rooms will be displayed. If anyone collects more than the ticket price, passengers can contact the phone numbers and lodge their complaints. Since all the educational intuitions will be opened from October 14, buses will be run on schedule,” he added.

The Transport Minister also instructed that all categories of passes, like students, employees, journalists, differently-abled, should be allowed and no one should complain that their passes were not honoured. 

Read: Telangana RTC strike: K Laxman hits out at the state government

Ongoing employee strike  

Talking about the ongoing employee strike, P Ajay Kumar said, “Transport facilities are being made without any problem during the strike period. He said on Wednesday, 3116 RTC buses, 1933 Private buses along with other vehicles have been put to use. Based on the rush these two days, more vehicles will be put into action. Railway authorities have also increased the frequency of Metro and MMTS rails. With the help from all the departments concerned, measures were taken so that there was no impact of the strike”. 

Read: Telangana RTC goes on strike; travellers stranded

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