CM KCR Holds Meet As Uncertainty Continues Over Hyd City Buses

HYDERABAD: Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) is sketching out plans to resume its services in Hyderabad. Even though there is an air of expectation on this for quite some time, the suspense continues on when it will decide to resume the services. Against this backdrop, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhara Rao held a review meeting at Pragathi Bhavan on Tuesday to discuss the resumption of buses within the limits of Greater Hyderabad Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). Besides Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar, senior officials of the transport department participated in the meeting.

Until a few days ago, it was largely expected that the state government would permit TSRTC to start plying the buses from around June 8. But that has not been the case as the state authorities have developed cold feet on the issue due to the sudden spurt in the number of COVID-19 cases in Hyderabad.

There is uncertainty on when is the right time to resume the city bus services in the state capital. Even though the lockdown restrictions have been eased considerably, there is a large section of the city's population that is facing severe hardships in the absence of the city buses.

A majority of the city's population depends on the city buses for their daily commuting, be it to their workplaces or to travel across the city.

As is known, city buses have been the lifeline for the commuters, especially those who travel to their workplaces from far-off localities.

Even as the decision on the city buses continues to hang in balance, there is also speculation that the TSRTC is contemplating to run inter-state buses as soon as possible as there is a high demand for destinations like Bangalore.

Already, the government of Telangana has lifted the restrictions on the plying of inter-state buses.