Paucity of buses torments Medchal, Malkajgiri, ECIL route commuters

Hyderabad: With no Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) buses plying on routes in Medchal, Malkajgiri and ECIL areas, commuters are facing hardships, especially, workers and college students. They are struggling to commute to and from their places due to lack of public transport.

Scores of people residing in Medchal and Malkajgiri localities commute daily. They have been demanding buses since long. They are still waiting for the corporation to operate on the routes.

B Adarsh of Uddemarri village, a worker who travels to Secunderabad daily, said he has been facing difficulties due to non-operation of buses on the route. There are several such people who are facing similar problems. They have to spend more money on travel by other public transport. We demand buses and urge the TSRTC to run on the routes," he added.

A Sathi Reddy, president, Telangana Praja Welfare Association, said earlier several buses from the Hakimpet depot used to pass through this route but now they are not running. Consequently, commuters are facing hardships. "There are around six villages on the Uddemarri route. Daily hundreds are facing problems due to lack of buses. Earlier, bus 211-U used to pass through these localities, but it has been stopped," he added.

Likewise, there are several localities where buses have been stopped, including ECIL, Nagaram. Commuters like college students are struggling due to bus crunch. "With no RTC, several students are made to spend agonizing time every day. We are forced to spend hundreds on private transport, like auto-rickshaws, which is three times the RTC fare," said Praveen Kumar, an engineering student of Keesara.

In view the struggles of commuters, specially students, as the new academic year is set to start, recently, a representation was given to the TSRTC Secunderabad division executive director and regional manager demanding buses on various routes. They responded positively and assured buses would be made available," said Sathi Reddy.