Hyderabad, Oct 2026 : Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Deputy Leader in the Telangana Assembly T. Harish Rao on Sunday criticised the Congress government for increasing Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (RTC) bus fares during the Bathukamma and Dussehra festive season, alleging that the move was placing an additional financial burden on ordinary passengers.
In a statement, the former minister questioned Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy over what he described as arbitrary fare hikes whenever festivals arrive. He said the government should have offered relief to people during the festive season instead of increasing their travel expenses.
“Instead of offering gifts to the people during the Bathukamma and Dussehra festivals, it is shameful to exploit them by doubling ticket prices,” Rao said.
The BRS leader alleged that the government had reduced the number of regular bus services while introducing so-called festival special buses at substantially higher fares. He questioned the practice of displaying “festival special” signs on regular buses without increasing the overall fleet, saying it was being used to justify higher charges.
Citing specific routes, Rao claimed that the fare from Jubilee Bus Station (JBS) in Secunderabad to Karimnagar had increased from ₹230 to ₹400. Similarly, the fare from Mahabubnagar to Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) in Hyderabad had risen from ₹220 to more than ₹290.
He alleged that the fare increases were affecting passengers across the state and diminishing the joy of travelling home to celebrate festivals with their families.
Rao also questioned the government’s policy of providing free RTC travel for women while allegedly charging higher fares to other family members. He argued that women’s travel concessions could lose their intended benefit if male family members were required to pay substantially more.
“If a wife gets a free ticket, her husband is charged double. Can this truly be called a concession for women, or is it merely shifting the financial burden back onto the same family?” he asked.
The former minister further claimed that RTC fares had been increased five times during the three years of Congress rule. He said the latest hikes, imposed in the name of festive demand, were placing particular pressure on poor and middle-class families.
According to Rao, the higher fares could discourage people from travelling to their native places during the festival period.
He demanded that the state government immediately withdraw what he termed excessive fare increases and restore regular bus services. He urged the authorities to maintain normal operations during the festive season and ensure that passengers, particularly those from economically weaker sections, were not subjected to additional expenses.
The Congress government had yet to respond to Rao’s allegations in the statement provided.
(Disclaimer :The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the Mavericknews30 team.)
