HYDERABAD: The city region of the APSRTC has decided to hire private security guards to check the problem of private vehicles occupying the bus stops and to ensure better services to its commuters.

These guards will replace the retired employees, who have been serving as traffic guides from this October, at Nampally - Erragadda and Punjagutta - Begumpet bus routes. They will be dressed in a specially-designed jackets with RTC logos.

Agreement

According to city Regional Manager C. Panduranga Murthy, an agreement to this affect was signed recently with a city-based security agency for hiring people to serve as traffic guides.

"The agreement would serve as a double bonus for the corporation. We need not invest a single rupee, as salaries would be borne by the agency itself. The revenue will be generated through advertisements on the jackets provided to guards," Mr. Murthy said. The corporation had earlier appointed 100 retired employees as traffic guides in the city.

A study conducted by the corporation revealed that retired employees were not up to the expectations in curbing the nuisance of private operators at bus bays.

New initiative

"Barring a few retired employees, the rest were unable to check the problem being faced by passengers. The new initiative will not only ensure free flow of traffic but also makes it easy for commuters to board a bus. Scuffles and arguments involving commuters, autorickshaws and pushcart vendors at bus stops will be solved to a larger extent," he added.

As of now 50 out of 200 private guards would be deployed at the bus stops from October first-week and the rest would be on the job by October-end, after undergoing a two-day training with the RTC.

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