Steps to check private bus operators in AP

Hyderabad, Jan 8: The cash-strapped Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APRTC) has decided to crack the whip on the private bus operators in the State.The RTC authorities strongly feel that the operation of private buses, particularly on certain important routes, is the primary reason for the State-run transport running into heavy losses. Thus, it has now decided to impose certain strict conditions on the private bus operators in order to increase its occupancy ratio.

Some senior officials of the RTC and the Roads Transport Authority (RTA) had a prolonged meeting here on Friday where they discussed the ways to check the movement of the private bus operators. The officials are of the strong belief that majority of the private bus operators are plying their services illegally.The meeting was informed that the corporation is incurring a whopping Rs 1,000 crore loss annually due to the operation of private buses.

It also took stock of the situation in the aftermath of the heavy damage caused to the RTC buses in the past one month. The losses were only multiplied with the recent incidents, the officials felt.They are of the opinion that this has to be checked forthwith. To control this menace, the meeting has decided to constitute a three-member squad with senior officials which will closely monitor the movement of buses and also conduct thorough inspection of the documents for their genuinity.  To begin with, the committee will initially inspect the private buses being operated to the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad from different destinations.