A view of the waterlogged APSRTC Vidhyadharapuram Bus Depot in Vijayawada on Tuesday (September 10).
| Photo Credit: G. N. RAO
The Andhra Pradesh State Transport Corporation Transport (APSRTC) has incurred a revenue loss of more than ₹30 crore in the last 10 days on account of the devastating floods, said Minister for Transport M. Ramparasad Reddy.
Speaking to the media after visiting the waterlogged Vidyadharapuram bus depot, he said he would approach Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for funds to help revive the facilities belonging to the public sector carrier at the earliest. The Vidyadharapuram bus depot is spread across 20 acres and comprises APSRTC facilities like the Transport Academy, Zonal Office and the Tire Division besides its Central Hospital and other wings. He said he would seek aid from the State government under the Central Disaster Relief funds.
The Minister said due to disruption of bus services on account of the floods, passengers moving in different directions had faced problems, as APSRTC was forced to withdraw services due to reasons varying from bad roads, buses stranded in waterlogged depots and the inability of the bus crew to report for duty, as their houses were marooned in flood waters.
He said despite difficult conditions, the APSRTC had provided commendable services to help the government officials reach the affected areas, to evacuated the rain-hit population to safer destinations and to deliver essential goods supplied to the areas that were cut off from the city.
He said as many as 25 APSRTC buses were pressed into service to transport people to various locations and additionally, 250 buses were provided to the staff of the sanitation wing to move around the city and clean-up the mess created by the rains.
The Minister was accompanied by a team of Corporation officials, including the Executive Directors K. S. Brahmananda Reddy (Administration), G.V. Ravi Varma (Engineering), Chandrasekhar (Operations), Vijayawada zone Executive Director Gopinath Reddy, NTR District Public Transport Officer M.Y. Danam and others.
Published – September 10, 2024 04:37 pm IST
