RTC buses off roads in Old City

Hyderabad: Call it step-motherly treatment or just whims of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), for some inexplicable reason, TSRTC buses in the old city have been taken off the road.

In a clear example of how people are deprived of bus services in colonies and residential areas, the TSRTC has decreased or removed several services one after other in the areas along Seetarambagh- Bhoiguda Kaman- Darusalam route leaving the citizens to fall prey to the autowalas and opt for individual areas.

The TSRTC has decreased or removed several buses plying in the Seetarambagh, Bhoiguda Kaman and Darusalam during the last couple of years. According to the residents, they had the bus services like 65S (Mehdipatnam to Charminar), 116 N (Koti-Nanakramguda), 137D (Darga to VST), 8S (Secunderabad Mehdipatnam). However, for the reason best known to the RTC officials, most of the services are either stopped or diverted from this route depriving the citizens to commute through the public transport.

M Sreedhar, a resident of Seetarambagh, who commutes through RTC bus, said that there was a phenomenal decrease in the bus services over the years and there is no clue why the services are closed down.

Sridhar says that the 116N route bus used to go via Mallepally-Seetarambagh, Bhoiguda Kaman and Darusalam, but now the bus is diverted from Mallepally to Bajarghat depriving the people living at the areas beyond Seetarambagh. “We are made to travel about two kilometers to catch a bus to Koti. As it is tiresome, we are forced to take auto, who generally charge heavily,” said Sreedhar.

Similarly, the RTC has stopped route 137D and 8S going through the same area. The students use buses in these two routes as there are many educational institutions in Narayanguda, Abids and Secunderabad. “Because of the non-availability of the buses, we are forced to send our children to the school in autos, which is costly affair,” said S Narasimha Chary.

When enquired, the Charminar zone manager N Sudha said that presently, there are four services of 65S. Sudha said that she had no idea on the other routes. The Kachiguda manager said, route no 116N was not going towards Seetarambagh- Darusalam because of the imposition of one way. However, there is no such one way rule in the area.

He said that he had no idea of the route 137D as he has been new in the area. The people residing in the area wanted the TSRTC officials to hear their pleas and run the buses as required.