BRS MLAs travel in RTC bus to protest fare hike

Hyderabad: In protest against the recent RTC fare hike, BRS MLAs D Sudheer Reddy, Kaleru Venkatesh and Mutha Gopal travelled by a city bus from Nampally Exhibition Grounds to the Assembly on Tuesday. They demanded that the government immediately rollback its decision which had adverse impact on commuters. Raising slogans against the Congress government, the MLAs took the ride to experience the burden and seek feedback from commuters firsthand. Interacting with them, several passengers expressed anger over the steep hike, saying the increase would impose an additional cost of Rs 400-500 per month on daily commuters. Many accused the government of burdening the poor while failing to improve services. After alighting near the Assembly, the BRS legislators spoke to mediapersons, stating that the Congress government had proven to be anti-poor, with its series of hikes including vehicle tax, liquor prices and student bus passes. They feared that the RTC fare hike would have an adverse impact on both the passengers and the RTC pushing the latter into a financial crisis. "Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is trying to squeeze money from the people wherever possible. He promised to bring change in governance which is turning out to be nothing but burden on common citizen," the legislators said. Demanding an immediate rollback of fares, they vowed that BRS would continue its agitation until the decision is reversed.