HYDERABAD: Wednesday brought some semblance of normalcy to the roads in the city as the RTC pressed into service 291 buses. But then, as the day progressed, it turned into a tragic-comedy of sorts. Most of the drivers and conductors hired to run the buses were absolutely clueless about the routes.A case in point was Kareem, a driver on special duty for the RTC bus service between Mehdipatnam and Secunderabad. He repeatedly asked his passengers: “Which way do I go now? Flyover or below?.” The jovial Kareem, however, assured his jittery passengers that they were in safe hands. He had been a lorry driver all his life. As he enlightened them on his credentials, he almost lost his way and immediately following protests from the worried people, apologised.“I am stopping wherever I see a bus stop or where the passengers ask me to. I am new to this route,” he told City Express.Kareem at least had training in bus driving and had driven private buses for six months. He was hired by the RTC on Monday and is still figuring out the routes.Lata, the conductor, too had received training in the RTC and had been waiting for the call letter for the past two months. A couple of days back, she did get the call but for this contract job. She believes she might be paid around `250 per day and does not know for how long. “May be once the staff get back to work, I will lose my job. Nothing has been mentioned till now. This is better than sitting at home and waiting for the job,” she said. Many trainees like her have been roped in by the RTC to tide over the present crisis. Harish (name changed), a driver in another RTC bus, is vexed with the agitation. “A few years ago, I used to gather people in my town to demand separate Telangana. Today I chose to drive this bus to feed my family. I have lost faith in protests. Let the leaders get us employment instead of a separate state,” he said. According to RTC Greater Hyderabad Zone PRO Sharath Chandra Reddy, of the 291 buses pressed into service, a majority were drawn from the ‘Palle Velugu’ service. He said all the drivers and conductors hired were selected based on the usual norms such as a valid heavy vehicle driver’s licence with at least one-and-half-a-year’s experience. They were also conducted medical tests to check whether they were fit for the job. Sharath Chandra Reddy said all the drivers and conductors are uniformly being paid `500 per day for their services. At a few place, policemen escorted the buses till their destination. Some policemen travelled in the buses with the passengers.
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