On Wednesday, the Telangana Government accorded administrative sanction of Rs 150 crore by the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) to purchase 500 new buses.

With a fleet of 10,744 buses, the Telangana RTC operates 35 lakh Kilometers’ transporting 90 lakh people every day. Other buses ranging from Pallevelugu to Vennela A/C sleeper are operated to meet the varying journey requirements of passengers. The RTC, as per the norms was due to replace 1613 buses in the year 2014-15 which included 621 Pallevelugu buses.

On October 16 last year, the issue was discussed with Transport and RTC officials during a review meeting held by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. The officials then stated that with a debt burden of Rs. 2912 Crores, RTC had accumulated losses amounting to Rs. 989 Crores and was not in a position to allocate the required finances for purchase of new buses. However, the Chief Minister had agreed to provide financial assistance of Rs150 Crore for purchase of 500 new buses during the review meeting. The orders giving administrative sanction for the same have been given on Wednesday.

Though 400 Pallevelugu buses are to be purchased at a cost of Rs 80 Crore, the other 100 A/C and special buses will be bought by RTC for Rs 70 Crore.