APSRTC to be bifurcated in a month

Hyderabad: The bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) is likely to be completed in a month, a top official said here on Wednesday.

The bifurcation (process of division of assets and personnel of APSRTC, with separate entity for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) would be completed in one month, APSRTC Vice-Chairman and Managing Director J Purnachandra Rao said. He said the transport corporation would strengthen its fleet by adding 1,000 new buses for Andhra Pradesh and 1,300 for Telangana by March 2015. Vehicle tracking system will be installed in all the 22,000 buses, he added. The Managing Director further said that with a view to improve the occupancy ratio, they are planning on scheduling of routes. A French as well as a Spanish company will take up a study on a pilot basis, he added. We have identified 500 routes where accidents are high (due to plying of private/hired vehicles) and corporation's bus services have been improved on such routes, he said. Rao said, there is a proposal to generate power by installing 500 KWP capacity and 1,000 KWP capacity solar panels at the bus depots in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh respectively, over a period of 20 years with expected savings of Rs 8.58 crore and Rs 17.61 crore respectively. To bring down the losses, APSRTC will ply buses on bio-diesel and tenders will be shortly be called for supply of bio-diesel, Rao added.