RTC fare hike draws flak, demos

Hyderabad, Jan 7: The Telugu Desam, Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left parties on Thursday held protest demonstrations against bus fare hike across the state.The BJP members staged a sit-in at Bus Bhavan near VST Industries here demanding withdrawal of the increased fares. The hike would hit the common man, stated BJP state president Bandaru Dattatreya and described it as ‘undemocratic and unilateral.’It was atrocious on the part of the government to effect a 22 per cent hike when people were facing hardship due to inadequate bus services, he said.

Raising slogans against the revised fares, the BJP activists alleged that instead of curbing the pace of growth of private vehicles and strengthening the Apsrtc fleet, the Government was actually driving commuters towards private vehicles.The TDP and CPI activists staged a dharna in front of RTC bus stand in Vijayawada against the State Government’s decision to revise the fares upward and raised slogans. TDP MLA Devineni Uma led the sit-in in Vijayawada.

The TDP leader said the fare hike would shift the additional burden to the common man. He said they would continue the agitation until the government revoked its decision.The CPI activists staged a dharna at Narketpalli bus stand and Nalgonda RTC Regional Manager’s office raising slogans against government.In Tirupati, the CPI activists detained buses protesting the government decision.