RTC yet to mend its ways

Mahbubnagar: With the Telangana Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) buses meeting with regular accidents, this clearly shows that the RTC which once used to give highest priority for passenger’s safety is now seems to least bothered about the safety and continue to use age old buses which are prone to frequent accidents in Mahabubnagar district. 

Very recently in a ghastly accident where an RTC Palle Velugu bus plunged into a 100 feet gorge killing more than 56 passenger at Kondagattu in Karimnagar, just weeks later another Palle Velugu bus which was running specially for ferrying candidates to write VRO exams from Hyderabad to Nagarkurnool district broke its front wheel at Vattem which severely injured more than 25 passengers. 

And after just two days later i.e. on Wednesday another bus of Achampet bus depot broke its axel while travelling to Mallela Teerthan pilgrimage spot in Achampet mandal of Nagarkurnool district. However with the driver who identified the problem early steered the bus tactically along the Ghat sections of the Nallamalla forest range and saved the lives of the passengers without any untoward incident. 

All these incidents clearly tells that the RTC which earlier used to give  safety of passengers as priority is now leaving it to air and in spite of repeated accidents there is not a precautionary measure taken by the RTC management to ensure safety. “RTC once up on a time used to have its Monopoly and was regarded as the safe mode of transport.

But now as the management is more worried about the profits and cost cutting, they are least bothered to maintain the buses regularly. In almost all the 9 major depots of erstwhile Mahabubnagar which has around 890 RTC buses majority of them are age-old and get frequent repairs.

Most of the Palle Velugu buses which are meant for ferrying people in the rural areas, their maintenance is pathetic and they are the ones which are prone to maximum accidents,” said an internal source from the RTC department. 

In the back drop of growing accidents, the people are demanding that at least now the RTC management must come out of their slumber sleep and concentrate on upgrading the old with the newer buses and immediately phase out the old buses and give priority for the passenger’s safety.

“Of late we have been observing the RTC is employing some private drivers who are having no training about safety. They drive the buses in a rash manner and putting the passengers at risk,” said Balu, a passenger, while expressing his concern about rash driving by RTC drivers.