Expressing relief and satisfaction over the cooperation that RTC received from the fire services and police personnel, Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) Managing Director Nanduri Sambasiva Rao said not a single complaint was received from students on Friday.
“We are glad we could handle the emergency, considering that an estimated two lakh students took the Engineering and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET) today. I must appreciate school and college managements who chipped in with their institutions’ buses. Some schools asked us to provide fuel and we gladly did so,” he said.
Recalling several instances of people and organisations who voluntarily came forward to help, he lauded the initiative of the GMR Group in Rajam of Srikakulam district who placed their vehicles at the disposal of students.
“Till the time the EAMCET examinations started, we operated 62 per cent of scheduled services,” he stated, appreciating the gesture of APSRTC Employees Union General Secretary K. Padmakar in asking union members not to obstruct any bus carrying students.
Mr. Rao said that he was grateful to Vijayawada City Police Commissioner A.B. Venkateswara Rao for the initiative he had taken in pooling together a 100-strong fleet of police vehicles of different types and using them as ‘EAMCET Specials’.
He pointed out that the Fire Services Department had provided 20 drivers in each of the 13 districts in AP to help the APSRTC run as many of its buses as possible.
Meanwhile, Director-General of Police, J.V. Ramudu said that all police personnel, especially officers had been asked to do everything they could, to help students with transport in any form.
“Our focus today is to see that no student misses his/her examination for want of transport. Those who have their own mode of conveyance - two or four-wheelers do not know the value of the APSRTC, that is still the cheapest and safest mode of transport,” he told The Hindu from Kakinada.
