RTC strike takes commuters for a ride in Hyderabad

Several autorickshaws had a free run as they overcharged commuters even for short distances
Due to the one-day auto strike, passengers were left stranded at Secunderabad railway station on Tuesday | S Senbagapandiyan
Due to the one-day auto strike, passengers were left stranded at Secunderabad railway station on Tuesday | S Senbagapandiyan

HYDERABAD: It was a day of rude shock to a majority of the denizens as the TSRTC buses did not ply in the city on Tuesday in view of the one-day strike call given by several auto motor unions in the state. As the public transport derailed, a lot of commuters were forced to board the multi-modal transport system (MMTS) and metro trains which were jam-packed.

It was even more disheartening to those who went to the Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station to board inter-district and inter-state buses as even they too were off the road. “I was shocked to see that there were no buses at Miyapur even after 20 minutes.

Ameerpet interchange Metro station witnessed a heavy footfall on Tuesday due to the one-day strike call given by auto motor unions in State  | express
Ameerpet interchange Metro station witnessed a heavy footfall on Tuesday due to the one-day strike call given by auto motor unions in State  | express

It was unusual. I thought that some TSRTC employee could have been beaten up because of which the strike was called but I didn’t know that they were demanding withdrawal of the amendments bill,” said a commuter, B Govind Rao. He travelled from Miyapur to MGBS by shelling out `110 and changing two share autos. The bus fare is around `25. The MGBS, which usually has a footfall of 60,000 to 70,000 passengers travelling on about 3,500 buses, wore a deserted look with bus services dysfunctional.

A meagre 15 per cent buses operated, according to MGBS officials. However, Andhra Pradesh bus services were normal.

“We had no information whatsoever that there would be a bus strike. Otherwise, we would have postponed the plan to visit my hometown,” said G Nilesh, a visually-impaired person who had to travel between Koti and Mehdipatnam.

Along with TSRTC bus drivers, a few auto & cab unions also took part in the strike. Several autorickshaws had a free run, charging money without any cap and a majority of them overcharged commuters for short distances. Share autorickshaws catered the needs of commuters.“I made `800 in just three hours during which I usually earn `300. Considering that I still have two more hours, my income will be `1,500,” said an elated Md Raoof, an auto driver from Chandrayangutta.

‘108’ ambulance service employees launch strike

Hyderabad: Telangana State 108 Employees Union launched their protest by wearing black badges, demanding the ‘108’ ambulance service to be brought under control of Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare and to reduce working hours from current 12-hours a day to eight hours.  Members of the union said that they would stage dharna at Health campus in Koti on August 10 if their issues were not addressed. From August 11, they threatened to boycott the service for eight-hours a day. However, GVK-EMRI 108 service management said that when they sought to know number of people who wanted 8-hour shift, no one responded.

Metro rail, MMTS come to the rescue of commuters

With a majority of city buses and autorickshaws going off the road on Tuesday as part of the nationwide transport strike, the city metro rail as well as MMTS came to the rescue of the commuters. Hyderababd Metro Rail was the major gainer from the road transport strike as approximately 1.50 lakh passengers travelled on metro rail on the day. The South Central Railway too ran additional MMTS services. HMRL managing director NVS Reddy said that metro trains ran full to their capacity and additional manpower was deployed to manage the crowd. Trains ran with a frequency of 6.5 minutes throughout the day. 60 extra trips were made by metro trains to meet the rush.

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