ON TRACK OF HOPE: Multi-Modal Transit System trains running to capacity brimming with commuters on the first day of the RTC strike in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

HYDERABAD: The indefinite strike by State Road Transport Corporation employees that began here on Tuesday hit public life hard, though not on the same scale as the previous strike in July. The impact of the strike, apparently, was lesser compared to the earlier one, thanks to more private buses being pressed into service by the Government.

Apart from a few MMTS trains running full and beyond their capacity in the morning and a few in the evening, the rest of the bearing of the strike was seen in bus depots, waiting sheds and all alongside main thoroughfares in the city.

Among those hit were school and college students whose woes doubled when they realised that none of the stand-in bus services would accept their bus passes. There were several buses with notices announcing "Passes Not Allowed" stuck on them.

Though some managed to hitch rides on two-wheelers and get into already packed school buses, the rest were at the mercy of the alternative arrangements made by authorities. In Abids and Koti, school children were seen waiting at bus stops for long hours, hoping for space in private buses that came only now and then. Others emptied their pockets to squeeze into auto-rickshaws, drivers of which made most of the circumstances. Commuters were also seen arguing that autos run on a share basis.

Low attendance

Fortunately for students, schools avoided action on latecomers though several schools registered falls in attendance. As for the general public, autos and seven-seaters were the only resorts. Main bus depots at Imlibun, Jubilee and Rathifile, usually teeming with passengers, wore a near-deserted look. Police parties were present at all the main bus depots and bus stops in Tarnaka, Habsiguda, Chilkalguda, Punjagutta and Sangeet crossroads among others.

Alternative arrangements

District Collector Arvind Kumar said 1,318 RTC buses, as against a normal fleet strength of 2,650 buses, and an additional 715 buses, including carriage buses, tourist buses, factory buses and mini-buses, were arranged by the Road Transport Authority along with the district administration. Around 900 maxi-cabs apart from regular three-wheelers and seven-seaters also plied in the city minimising the inconvenience of the travelling public, he said.

The Collector also reiterated that tickets would not issued on these buses and that bus-passes would not be allowed.

Meanwhile, South Central Railway officials said 40 additional MMTS trains were pressed into service in addition to the regular 74 trains. There was a 10 per cent jump in occupancy rates from the regular 25 per cent. The occupancy this time was lesser than during the strike in July since the load was shared by private buses this time, they said.

Extend support

Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh State Lorry and Workers' Federation and Auto and Trolley Drivers' Union have extended their support to the RTC strike. M.B. Radha Krishna, president, and Bhupal, general secretary, in a press release urged the Government to resume discussions with the Joint Action Committee of RTC employees for ending the strike.

They criticised the utilisation of private transporters to break the strike. They appealed to the Government to give up tactics to divide the workmen and take steps for ending the agitation.

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