Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has said that it is not in a position to resume bus services to the Seemandhra region in view of the bandh called in protest against the Union government’s decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh.
With schools announcing Dasara holidays, people have been finding it difficult to reach their places in the region.
“We have not operated bus services to Seemandhra region since the agitation began against bifurcation. There is no immediate possibility of resuming bus services,” KSRTC Managing Director N. Manjuntha Prasad has said.
He said: “We are now operating only 15 services to Hyderabad, that too during the night. At times, these services are operated via Bellary, Raichur and Mehboobnagar to skirt Seemandhra region.” About 450 services have been affected due to the agitation, he said.
Of these 450 services, about 150 are Tirupati-bound. Services to Kakinada, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada are not being operated, Mr. Prasad said. The corporation has been losing over Rs. 40 lakh traffic revenue every day due to the agitation. At the same time, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu government bus corporations too are not operating in the Seemandhra region, Mr. Prasad said.
North-Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation, which operates about 350 services to Andhra Pradesh, and North-Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation, which operates about 150 services, have completely stopped services to Seemandhra region.
Trains full
With no bus connectivity to Seemandhra, people are thronging trains to reach places in Seemandhra. From Bangalore, 19 trains are operated towards Visakhapatnam sector and 13 towards Hyderabad sector. All these trains are running full. South Western Railway’s Bangalore Divisional Railway Manager A.K. Agarwal told The Hindu that they have no plans to operate additional services as of now.
