The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation will offer its buses on hire to private parties for pre-Sammakka -Sarakka jatara at Medaram in Mulugu district if they can assure over thirty passengers a trip.
The offer will be open till February 11 after which the corporation will run services from 51 designated points across the State. People wanting to hire the services can call up 040-3010 2829, said the TSRTC vice-chairman and managing director V.C. Sajjanar.
He told a media conference that a total of 3,845 buses, 463 more than last time, will be deployed to shift about 23 lakh passengers. About 12,500 crew and other personnel will be on duty till the operations closed on Feb. 20.
The passenger rush was expected to pick up on February 13 but it will be moderate on that day and the next day. The rush will increase considerably on February 16 and 17 and peak on February 18 when the presiding deities of the jatara Sammakka - Sarakka will adorn the platform where they will be consecrated till the retreat into forest in the evening of February 19.
Mr. Sajjanar said the corporation had already operated 523 special buses to the jatara so far, ferrying 1.20 lakh passengers in 12,050 trips. A base camp of the corporation, close to the platform, over 50 acres was used as a temporary bus station and construction of 42 pathways to form queue for boarding buses. About 300 volunteers will regulate the commuters. Two cultural teams will perform at the site by turns to create awareness in public to use RTC services instead of private vehicles for journey as the former will take them till close proximity to the platform. On the other hand, the private vehicles were given parking lots five to six kms away but the RTC will run free shuttle services from there till the shrine.
He expected a revenue generation of ₹30 to ₹32 crore from the jatara though the services were not aimed to make money. The RTC had formed twenty five chasing squads to prod drivers to clear the route for smooth flow of traffic.
Mr. Sajjanar launched on the occasion “Medaram with RTC” app developed by students and faculty of KITS College in Warangal. It will be kept on Google Playstore shortly.
