Hyderabad,  The Telangana government on Sunday decided to increase the services of the state-run Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) in Hyderabad to 50 per cent.

The public transport body had been operating 25 per cent services since September 25 when it resumed the operations after a gap of six months due to Covid-19 pandemic.

At a review meeting, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao directed TSRTC to increase bus services in Hyderabad to 50 per cent as it would help more people from the districts to travel to Hyderabad and back.

KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, said that the TSRTC was back on the track and was on road to earn profits when the corona pandemic hit. He, however, vowed to revive TSRTC.

TSRTC officials informed the Chief Minister that due to the pandemic and with people preferring to use the private vehicles, occupancy rate of the RTC buses came down drastically which resulted in the Corporation incurring heavy losses.

The CM instructed the officials to take appropriate decisions and get over the difficulties created by Corona. He wanted officials to analyse on what measures to be taken to make the RTC back to its pre-Covid situation.

KCR said that the Cargo services introduced by the TSRTC have become a big hit and people are patronising it. The CM hoped that like the Indian Railways, TSRTC would also earn profits through its Cargo services.

He expressed happiness over TSRTC setting million parcel transport record.

KCR congratulated Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar and the officials concerned.

The Chief Minister directed TSRTC to pay 50 per cent pending salaries of the employees. The government had imposed 50 per cent cut in salaries for two months due to COVID situation. He directed Principal Secretary (Finance) Ramakrishna Rao to immediately release Rs 120 crore for paying the deducted amount. He also discussed about providing job security to the TSRTC workers.

"The State government is protecting the State Public Sector Undertaking despite several difficulties. The government is providing security to lakhs of employees and their families of the State PSUs. The government has opposed tooth and nail when attempts made by some to privatize the Power sector. Moreover, the government has regularized thousands of the contract employees of the electricity department. On the other hand, the Centre is privatizing PSUs including the LIC," he said.

KCR vowed not to rest till putting TSRTC back on track. "I will protect TSRTC as long as I am here. Many employees and lakhs of their families are dependent on the TSRTC. Moreover, this is the cheapest transport network available for the poor. Hence, without thinking about the loss or profits that the TSRTC is making, we will protect it for the larger public interest. The government will financially assist the TSRTC," he added.

KCR noted that one by one institutions are coming back on track from the corona pandemic situation. "People are coming out. Services sector like hotels and Dhabas are coming back to the business. People have started moving. In this backdrop, find out and discuss at length what measures to be taken to make people patronize RTC once again," he told the officials.