Hyderabad: No food stalls at RTC bus stands to quench passengers hunger pangs

Hyderabad: The passengers travelling in the long distance RTC buses have to carry snacks if not meals as the canteens and shops on depots premises are closed down leading to inconvenience to the passengers.

Significantly, The TSRTC has started long-distance inter-state buses towards Maharashtra and Karnataka (except Bengaluru) from September 28. The buses are going beyond 300 km but the passengers are made to starve because of the non-availability of canteens in the depots. Apart from the canteen, there are no snacks shops in the depots and buses are being halted for a few minutes.

With the buses limited to the depots for a long time because of the nationwide lockdown imposed in the country, the canteen and stall owners had to face losses and they decided to close down the shops in the depots. Though the buses were started, the shops still remained closed because of low patronage and very lesser number of buses.

The passengers had to face difficulties especially those travelling with children had to beg the driver/conductor to stop the bus for snacks. S Narasimha, a private employee travelling to Udgir in Maharashtra had to request the conductor to stop the bus for some snacks for his children.

The conductor advised Narasimha to get down when the bus reaches the depot and get eatables from shops outside the depot. The conductors are cautious not to stop the buses on private dhabas in wake of the spread of Corona but the passengers want the RTC officials to look into the issue.

The officials said that this issue had come to their notice. "The buses have started but the shops are closed. The shop owners are saying that they are incurring losses hence they are keeping them closed," said a senior official.

The official said that the depot managers will be given instructions to start the canteens and stalls so that there is no inconvenience, the official said.