JOIN USWith more than 20,000 state owned buses staying off the roads in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for the fourth consecutive day, the common man’s summer travel plans have gone hay wire.
While all the trains towards Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam are running chock-a-block, no seats are available with the private bus operators either. Around 2.5 lakh students taking common entrance test for medical and engineering and teachers recruitment examinations on Friday and Saturday had a tough time reaching their test centers in AP.
“I have started from my village on Friday morning by an auto, then hitch-hiked on a truck to reach test centre in Vijayawada this morning,” a tired student said at an examination centre on Saturday.
Students and parents had to negotiate with auto drivers who were charging two three times more than the normal charges. The APSRTC which is to e bifurcated between the two Telugu speaking states covers about 79.83 lakh kilometres and carry 156.78 lakh people to their destinations every day.
The employees in both states are demanding 43 per cent hike in their salaries at par with the other state government employees. On Friday, clashes erupted in many places in AP and Telangana as the management tried to run buses with the help of hired drivers.
The APSRTC employees also attacked buses from Tamil Nadu for operating from Tirupati and Chittore with stones. In Tirupati drivers have warned the government that they would not ply services to the Tirumala hills if the management hires services from private operators.