The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) will operate as many as 2,427 special buses from various districts in Telangana and neighboring Andhra Pradesh on the occasion of Maha Shivratri.

The state-owned transport operator announced that the special buses will be operated from February 17 to 19.

Maha Shivratri is scheduled to be celebrated on February 18.

TSRTC officials said the buses for the devotees will be operated to 40 Shaiva Kshetras located in various parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

As many as 578 services will be operated to Srisailam, 481 to Vemulawada, 239 to Keesaragutta, 497 to Edupayala, 108 to Velala, 51 to Kaleshwaram, 52 to Komuravelli, 37 to Kondagattu, 16 to Alampur, 15 to Ramappa and 14 to Uma Maheshwaram.

Special buses will be available for devotees from MGBS, JBS, Dilsukhnagar, IS Sadan, KPHB, BHEL in Hyderabad to Srisailam. Advance reservation facilities will be available for these bus services.

Officials said the corporation will run more services, if required, for the convenience of devotees.

TSRTC Chairman Bajireddy Govardhan stated that the management is taking all measures to ensure that devotees do not face any difficulties on the occasion of Maha Shivratri. “It has been decided to run special buses to the 40 famous Shiva temples across the state,” he said

TSRTC Vice-Chairman and Managing Director V.C. Sajjanar said that instructions have been given to the officials to arrange more special buses according to the traffic.

The TSRTC is also providing a 10 per cent discount on rented buses. Sajjanar advised devotees to use this rental bus facility.

The corporation had operated about 4,000 special buses during Sankranti last month. Over 2.8 crore people had earned the services. The TSRTC had earned more than Rs 165 crore by operating the special services in a span of 11 days.

A Nizam-era bus, manufactured by Albion company of the UK, was the centre of attraction at the bus parade organised here on Saturday by the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC).

The red-color bus, which was part of the first fleet of 27 buses introduced by the Nizam State Rail and Road Transport Department (NSRRTD) in 1932, was repaired and decked up for the occasion with the national flags.

The 19-seater bus, with the destination ‘Nanded’ displayed prominently on the front, led the parade on Tank Bund in the heart of the city.

This antique bus is a prized possession of the TSRTC and is displayed outside Bus Bhavan, the head office of the corporation.

The buses which were part of the parade included the current luxury fleet of Garuda and Rajdhani.

Organised as part of the ongoing celebrations to mark 75 years of India’s independence, the parade highlighted the long history of the corporation.

The parade, comprising music bands and motor-cycles, was flagged off at Rotary Park at the Vivekananda Statue and concluded at the Ambedkar Statue.

The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) has directed all its officers and employees working in administrative offices to travel by its buses every Thursday.

All the officers and employees will travel only by TSRTC buses to their place of work and back, announced the state-owned transport body. The new initiative ‘Bus Day’ is aimed at enhancing the quality of the services by taking feedback from the passengers.

TSRTC vice-chairman and managing director V.C. Sajjanar on Thursday travelled by TSRTC bus in Hyderabad from Telephone Bhavan bus stop to his office. He interacted with the passengers and took feedback and suggestions from them.

Sajjanar, a Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, also enquired about the availability of buses, punctuality, and behaviour of the crew.

He boarded an ordinary service bus of Mehdipatnam depot and alighted at Bus Bhavan, RTC Crossroads.

During his journey, he interacted with the passengers aboard and took feedback about cleanliness, upkeep, and also cargo services.

He requested all the general public to travel in TSRTC buses for a safe and hassle-free journey, and also as it is a cheaper mode of transport. Travelling in TSRTC buses is good for the environment as there will be less pollution. After alighting, he thanked the TSRTC bus crew for their good driving habits and courteous behaviour towards the commuters.

Ever since taking over as TSRTC MD three months ago, Sajjanar has been making efforts to improve services and encourage people to travel by TSRTC buses.

He travelled by city buses on a few occasions, interacted with passengers and also made surprise visits to shops at bus stations following public complaints about the shops selling the eatables and other items at exorbitant prices.

Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) has paid salaries to its employees with the state government’s budgetary support.

TSRTC Managing Director Sunil Sharma stated that on the direction of the Transport Minister P. Ajay Kumar proper planning was done and enough savings were done and along with government budgetary support salaries were given to all the RTC employees.

He said TSRTC has improved its revenues to Rs 11 crore per day from Rs 2 crore during Covid time. Regular meetings were conducted and RTC staff was motivated to take up measures to improve the revenues of the corporation.

“Today on an average, we are earning around 11 crore revenue per day. During the Covid time the revenue had fallen to a low of around Rs.2 crore per day. A lot of measures were taken up like adopting new job security guidelines and continuous monitoring of the RTC, which has resulted in better position,” the MD said.

Sunil Sharma said adequate safety measures were taken to ensure that both passengers and staff were protected from coronavirus.

He said regular video conferences were conducted with RTC staff and directions were given thus improving the financial health. Around 32 crore was recently deposited in the GPF account of the employees.

Sharma said more such measures were being taken up to ensure that the RTC improves further.

The state government had last month finalized guidelines providing job security to TSRTC employees. The RTC employees, in the past, had brought to the notice of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao that the employees are being subjected to unnecessary harassment while discharging their duties on several occasions and they are also losing jobs.

Responding to this, the Chief Minister assured them that job security would be provided to the TSRTC employees without any harassment at work. As per the instructions from the CM, the RTC officials committee prepared the guidelines, which were accepted by the chief minister.