Hyderabad: Transport costs burning a hole in ryots' pockets

Mehdipatnam : It has been almost a year since the TSRTC stopped special services to rural areas which provided easy access to city for village farmers. Though the RTC resumed its services since October last, but it is yet to operate its full strength and last-minute connectivity to every village.

This has hit the farmers and vendors badly as they are forced to find alternative mode of transportation which is burning a big hole in their pockets.

"Earlier, it used to cost me Rs 20 to travel to Rythu Bazar, but now with no bus services I am spending around Rs 120 on autorickshaws or tempos and an additional Rs 50-60 per vegetable sack," said Krishna, a farmer from Chilkur village who sells veggies in Mehdipatnam Rythu Bazaar.

"The buses services to our villages are not available. They drop us at Moinabad and then we either walk or take autos to reach our villages. The government has resumed all its services in the city but it not concerned about the villagers," he added.

In Hyderabad, there are 11 Rythu Bazaars developed by the Telangana State government, including RK Puram, Vanasthalipuram, Saroor Nagar, Falaknuma, Mehidipatnam, Erragadda, Kukatpally, Yellambanda, Meerpet, Medipally and Kothapet.

Another farmer at Alwal's Rythu Bazaar, J Narsimlu, said, "Before pandemic we used to transport vegetables in buses at a cost of Rs 10 only, but now we have to hire private vehicles to transport our produce to cities and Rythu Bazaars which is costing us more than Rs 150 for a vegetable sack."

To make it cost-effective, a group of farmers hire a private vehicle in early morning and load their produce into the truck or tempo which would reach the city around 7:00 am daily.

Another farmer, G Bhavani from Nalgonda, said "There are a few buses for the Nalgonda district, but if we miss a bus then we will have to wait for two hours for the next bus and by the time we reach Rythu Bazaar we miss our customers and lose business. The corporation must increase the bus services to villages for the benefit of farmers."

Rythu Bazaar at Mehdipatnam is home to around 300-500 farmers, who depend on it for their daily bread. Of them, 80 percent of farmers are men and 20 percent are women.

"Echoing the same, A Laxminarayana, Supervisor of Rythu Bazaar at Mehdipatnam, said that due to lockdown the farmers and vendors incurred heavy losses. Now, they are forced to spend huge monies on transportation of farm produce. The RTC should run to its full strength in rural areas."

Further, he said that the Rythu Bazaar generates revenue of Rs 96 lakh per annum. The market sells a stock of 800 quintals daily. However, since May the number decreased to 70 quintals per day.