Hyderabad: RTC bus terminal proposal in a limbo

Rajendranagar: The proposal of 'bus terminal' at Aramghar crossroads, which is now a major transit point interconnecting NH-44 (Bahadurpura and Shamshabad) and Inner Ring Road (Attapur and Chandrayanguta) has been in a back burner for the past several years.

As the corporation finds it difficult to execute any expansion plans, it solely counts on GHMC for any such move and a proposal to acquire land at Aaramghar for setting up a 'bus terminal' is the one among them that hangs in the air for several years.

"Proposals were made to set up bus terminals at two locations such as Vanasthalipuram and Aaramghar several years ago. Though the Vanasthalipuram proposal is somewhat grounded with the help of GHMC but the proposal on Aramghar land still hangs in air and we are not in a position to reveal the reasons," informed P Chandrakanth, Depot Manager, TSRTC Rajendranagar Depot.

Elucidating the prevailing ebb and flow in revenue realization, he said, "A gradually improving revenue generation received a roadblock due to the pandemic that brought the daily earning of the Rajendranagar depot from Rs 9 lakh pre-lockdown to Rs 6 lakh post pandemic. This has formed a deficit of around Rs 3 lakh per day. However, to improve the revenue generation, the corporation has introduced a cargo and parcel service which is somewhat helping in improving the income. To this, we are now planning to extend the parcel service with door-to-door parcel delivery in order to compensate for the losses."

Explaining that the revenue from Rajendranagar is quite improving he said, "Pre-lockdown gross revenue of Rajenderanagar depot stood around Rs.9 lakh per day."

The Depot Manager further said that, "We are providing passenger services on all the routes leaving no room for inconvenience to passengers. He made a fervent appeal to the public to utilise the RTC bus service as much as they can and help the corporation in improving the revenue that may ultimately help people to get better services from TSRTC."

"Presently there are a total of five cargos and parcel counters in areas such as Shamshabad, Katedhan, Hyderguda, Feelkhana and Kothi. These counters are generating an average of Rs.10,000 per day for the corporation. There are three cargo busses, one mini bus and two major busses, that are being put into service for which the delivery is being made within 24 hours from the booking" said N Venkenna, Asst Manager (Traffic) TSRTC.