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Telangana Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar on Saturday flagged off 50 new super luxury buses purchased by state-owned Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC).

The minister inaugurated the new buses on Tank Bund in Hyderabad in the presence of TSRTC Chairman Bajireddy Goverdhan and Managing Director V.C. Sajjanar.

The minister said these 50 buses form part of 776 buses to be purchased by TSRTC in the first phase.

The corporation has plans to add a total 1,016 more buses worth Rs 392 crore to its fleet in the current financial year.

In the first phase of procurement, the TSRTC has placed an order for 630 super luxury, 130 deluxe buses and 16 sleeper buses. All these buses will start playing on different routes by March 2023.

The new super luxury buses procured by the TSRTC are equipped with upgraded technology for the safety of passengers. These buses have a tracking system and a panic button, which is connected to the TSRTC control room.

The TSRTC control room will be notified if any passengers press the panic button in case of emergencies. Each bus has 36 reclining seats, LED display boards cell phone charging facilities and TVs for entertainment.

For the safety of passengers, security cameras and reverse parking assistance cameras are installed in the buses.

The vehicles will also have state-of-the-art fire detection and alarm system (FDAS). The system sends immediate alerts in case a fire breaks out in the bus. It will also have a temperature sensor that will set off an alarm in case of overheating.

This is the highest number of buses being procured by the RTC, largest in its history. The minister said though TSRTC suffered a loss of Rs 2,000 crore due to Covid-19 pandemic, the government has been extending all the help to the corporation to overcome the same.

TSRTC Chairman Bajireddy Goverdhan said the TSRTC was procuring a large number of new buses thanks to the support of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. He thanked the chief minister for providing Rs 500 crore to TSRTC every year.

Bajireddy Goverdhan said that the corporation was able to cut the losses due to efforts of the staff. He also pointed out that the corporation released five pending installments of Dearness Allowance (DA) to the employees. Despite the increase in the price of diesel, the corporation did not increase the fares.