APSRTC to induct 750 electric buses in GCC mode; staff union flays move

The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) is planning to induct 750 electric buses in GCC mode across 12 locations in the State under the Centre’s PM-eBus Sewa scheme.

The proposal was approved by the Ministry of Urban Transport during the 11th and 13th meetings of the Central Sanctioning and Steering Committee (CSSC).

Civil infrastructure works have been sanctioned for all 12 locations, while electrical works, essential for charging facilities, have been approved for only five locations so far.

In a communication to the Chief Mechanical Engineer (Chassis and Bodybuilding) G. Nageswara Rao, APSRTC Chief Civil Engineer S. Venkata Ramana said tenders for civil works at the proposed e-Bus depots are being released, and construction is expected to begin within about one and a half months.

For this to proceed, he said, depot sites must be handed over, a process that may temporarily affect the opeatrions of buses.

Explaining that the scale of work varies by location, he said at Vidyadharapuram (Vijayawada) and Guntur-II, depots located in low-lying areas require complete dismantling and elevation of yards, while Nellore-II and Mangalam depots must be fully handed over for re-development.

Partial handover was required at Gajuwaka, Kakinada and Ananthapuram and at Mangalagiri, Kadapa, and Kurnool, vacant spaces within existing depots would be used with separate entrances for e-Bus operations.

Simhapuri and Rajamahendravaram are greenfield projects to be developed on new sites, he said.

Mr. Venkata Ramana said some existing structures will need relocation to accommodate e-Bus infrastructure and that the Centre has not sanctioned funds for these relocation costs, which would have to be borne by APSRTC.

Reacting sharply to the development, leaders of the RTC Employees’ Union on Wednesday demanded that the government immediately withdraw its decision to hand over APSRTC operations to private companies.

The union opposed the allocation of 12 locations across 11 depots to Pune-based Pinnacle Company, calling it detrimental to the future of the corporation.

Employees’ union State president P. Damodara Rao and general secretary G.V. Narasayya asserted that electric buses should be operated directly by the APSRTC employees.

Demanding cancellation of the decision to hand over the depots to private consortiums, they insisted that the government should provide the required infrastructure for electric buses.

Stating that the move would harm the interests of the State-run public transport organisation, they said if their pleas went unheeded, the union would be forced to launch State-wide protests.