Hyderabad, February 19: Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation staff, especially conductors, are in a dilemma whether to ask any commuters to buy tickets these days.
They fear that the commuter might turn out to be a separate statehood activist. They are apprehensive that if the commuter is indeed an activist, they may get in for a strong reaction.
For some, the bus rides are now becoming more enjoyable, especially when the slogan ‘Jai Telangana’ acts as a bus pass. The conductors have no option left but to move onto the next passenger and hope that he would buy a ticket.
The ‘ticketless’ travels are part of the noncooperation agitation called for by the Telangana Political Joint Action Committee to as part of its efforts to build enough pressure on the government so that it agrees to bifurcating Andhra Pradesh.
The protest which was launched on Thursday, gathered pace on Friday with Telangana students heeding the call and refusing to buy tickets in many buses leaving the conductors helpless.
On Friday at around 10 AM, a youngster boarded ‘222A’ Metro Express of the HCU Depot at Kondapur and refused to buy the ticket. When the lady conductor insisted, he started raising ‘Jai Telangana’ slogans in the bus.
Even the conductor kept on insisting that he buy the ticket or the bus will be made to stop at the next police station, the undeterred youth scoffed at her warnings.
As the bus neared the Madhupur police station, the youth rushed to the driver’s side and asked him make clear whether he was in favour of a separate state or not. The driver said he was.
The youth then asked the driver to join him in the slogan shouting. Soon after, ‘Jai Telangana’ slogans echoed in the bus.
The slogan shouting led to complaints from some passengers, who objected saying that they were getting late for their offices. The complaints led to heated argument between pro-Telangana and pro-office going passengers.
The arguments made the driver pull up to the side and warn the passengers that he would not proceed till silence was returned inside the bus.
As for the youth, he got off at the LV Prasad Hospital, obviously, without buying a ticket.
INN