The demand for a new bus shelter at the native place of former JNU vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar in Telangana’s Nalgonda district is likely to be fulfilled soon as a new request on Twitter highlighting his appointment as the new University Grants Commission chairman on Friday got an immediate response from the state transport corporation.
“The new UGC Chairman Prof.Jagdish Kumar hails from this Mandal Tipparthy.. Plz explore possibilities in arranging a bus stop n the time table in the Mandal Hqrs..@tsrtcmdoffice @TSRTCHQ,” Satish Reddy, a technical assistant with the Food Corporation of India, urged the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation citing his previous request for a bus shelter at Thipparthi, which is 5 km from the new UGC chief’s native Mamidala village and 115 km from state capital Hyderabad.
Reddy’s tweet with a news clipping and photograph of Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar—his full name—evoked a quick response from the corporation’s managing director, V C Sajjanar, who alerted the official handle of its headquarters, which then tagged the Nalgonda divisional manager and the Nalgonda depot manager, seeking immediate action.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, Reddy said that Thipparthi, does not have a bus shelter despite being the mandal headquarters and just a kilometre away from the local railway station. “At this location, there is no bus shelter on the side towards Hyderabad and Nalgonda. On the opposite side, leading to Miryalaguda and Guntur, there exists a new bus shelter which was built with support from a donor. We request the TSRTC to arrange a shelter and display timings of buses from Kodad and Nalgonda depots,” he said. “As we don’t have a waiting shed, people have nowhere to shelter from the hot sun and have to sit outside nearby shops,” he added.
The Nalgonda district headquarters is 17 km away from Thipparthi and the Miryalaguda town 25 km away.
On January 29, Reddy had tweeted: “Tipparthy Mandal (Nalgonda dist) has no bus stop in the hqrs arranged by TSRTC authorities. Neither ther is a notice board with bus timings. It’s a prominent location on Hyd – Vijayawada route (Addanki highway) n 1 of the largest mandals in d dist. Plz see sir.. @tsrtcmdoffice” However, it received no official response then.
Tipparthy Mandal (Nalgonda dist) has no bus stop in the hqrs arranged by TSRTC authorities. Neither ther is a notice board with bus timings.
It’s a prominent location on Hyd – Vijayawada route (Addanki highway) n 1 of the largest mandals in d dist.
Plz see sir..@tsrtcmdoffice pic.twitter.com/6jA0QrogE2
— SatiSh Reddy (@SatishSimply) January 29, 2022
On Friday, as Jagadesh Kumar was appointed as the new UGC chairman, Reddy tweeted again quoting his earlier tweet, attached a news clipping about the former Jawaharlal Nehru University vice-chancellor’s new job.
The new UGC Chairman Prof.Jagdish Kumar hails from this Mandal Tipparthy.. Plz explore possibilities in arranging a bus stop n the time table in the Mandal Hqrs.. @tsrtcmdoffice @TSRTCHQ https://t.co/LTxf6m7O4c pic.twitter.com/SYHZiiBAwo
— SatiSh Reddy (@SatishSimply) February 4, 2022
G Chennakeshavalu, the transport corporation’s divisional manager for the Nalgonda region, told indianexpress.com that they were not usually able to attend to every request for a new bus shelter. “Displaying bus timings can be done immediately, but what usually happens is that shopkeepers object to the construction of bus shelters in their area. Lack of funds is another problem. Now that the issue is brought to our notice, we will sort it out soon,” he said.
From requests for new bus routes to bus shelters and new depots, Sajjanar has been fielding requests of all kinds on Twitter since taking over as the transport corporation boss recently. “Our priority is to improve the passenger patronage, for which we are focusing on providing better services, amenities, and cleanliness. Passengers are our gods,” he said.
According to Sajjanar, the corporation’s revenues had improved in the last quarter of 2021.