HYDERABAD: After almost a month, RTC buses are back on the roads in the city on Sunday, much to the relief of commuters.The bad news is they may not ply Monday because the Telangana joint action committee has given yet another bandh call for the 14th time this year! Add to that, auto-wallahs too have decided to go on a 24-hr strike from Sunday midnight.“The RTC staff will participate in the bandh on Monday,” T-RTC JAC co-convenor K Hanumanthu confirmed to City Express. RTC officials, however, said they will take a call on whether to run buses on Monday morning after assessing the situation. Passengers, who travel regularly in RTC buses, were visibly relieved. Jamuna, a front-office assistant at a shopping mall, is glad as she has to travel from Dilshuknagar to Prakashnagar every day.“I spent around `2000 on autos alone in the last one month.I have been waiting for the strike to be called off so that I can apply for a bus pass,” she said. Private travel agencies too are happy at the turn of events.They had been keeping their fingers crossed this past month fearing attacks on their buses. The ongoing rail roko has given added impetus to some of them.Deepu of Morning Travels said his agency had seen an increased number of bookings for Vizag and Vijayawada this weekend due to the rail roko.The agency had to deny tickets to many since the rail roko began.But a few others weren’t as lucky. “We have already hiked fares anticipating extra expenses in case our buses are attacked in Telangana. If a passenger shells out a few hundred bucks more, he can hire a taxi to his destination. The rail roko will not make much of a difference to me,” said Naani of a travel agency which runs buses to Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Auto-drivers, who have been ruling the roads, were disappointed that RTC buses are back in the city.“We haven’t had a single passenger since morning,” said Mallikarjun and his four friends, who drove around the city in vain and finally, decided to take a break.“Our daily expense is Rs. 600 including the rent that we have to pay.We haven’t even got back Rs. 100 today,” they said. Given this bleak scenario, not many auto drivers are enthusiastic about Monday’s autos’ strike. Abdul, who drops students to schools, sees no point in stopping for a bandh anymore. “I’m tired of this. Now schoolchildren are back to schools. I’ll lose my business if I stay at home,” he said.
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