Update on MGBS (Hyderabad Bus Terminal)

I hope everyone remember the SUCCESSFUL MGBS event details which we have posted a month ago.
We did not just stop at that, since we believe that erasing the problems right from the roots is the best solution.

So,Here is an interesting update on that event..

Seating Arrangements Problem and a solution in busstops

What was the Problem? :

Every citizen who has visited the bus stations or bus stops knows the problem of seating arrangement which is insufficient by any standards. Also CC/BT pavements have to be provided in all bus stations at IN and OUT approaches and parking yards, which are clearly not being provided. Some such pavements, which started construction, also were left incomplete by the R.T.C.

What do rules say? :

A.P.S.R.T.C has announced that they will provide seating arrangements at all bus stations and bus stops for the convenience of passengers. They also have started the construction of CC/BT pavements, which were very essential. But they haven’t finished their construction. Also they haven’t provided the seating arrangements.

What have we done? :

We lodged a 30 point complaint, on 11-11-2009, to the R.T.C. in which we mentioned this problem clearly. Though, the officials didn’t show interest on the complaint, we made them take some action by filing an R.T.I application, on 14-12-2009 demanding the action taken report on our complaint lodged.

Actions taken:

The civil engineer, who has taken up the job, sent a reply on 30-1-2010, issuing the orders to the Executive engineer, to provide seating arrangements and CC/BT pavements on the IN and OUT approaches at bus stations. He also ordered to complete the incompletely constructed pavements.

This is the power of R.T.I that made R.T.C. issue orders on the facilities that they announced but have not implemented. If you think you too can fight for some good cause you are welcome. We are here to help you.

Please download Complaint, RTI and Replies here.

Misuses of CAT CARD

What was the problem? :

In district ordinary (Palle Velugu) service buses, the CAT Card holders, who travel from one place to another for job purposes, are misusing the CAT Card for their personal benefit. Instead of taking a single ticket for the whole journey they take number of tickets on the whole journey. This is to avail concession on each ticket for their gain. For example instead of buying a Rs. 30 ticket which gives them a Rs.3 concession, they take 6 Rs.5 tickets so that they get each ticket for Rs.3 and they get double the concession. This results in loss to R.T.C.

What do rules say? :

CAT card was introduced in order to benefit the card holders by providing some concession on their ticket fare. The persons who opt for CAT cards are generally those people who travel on a regular basis. But the concession on the ticket fare is to be limited to only once in the whole journey. But due to some miscommunication and loopholes in the rules of CAT card the CAT card holders are misusing their liberty for saving their money.

What have we done? :

We lodged a 30 point complaint, on 11-11-2009, to the R.T.C. in which we mentioned this problem clearly. Though, the officials didn’t show interest on the complaint, we made them take some action by filing an R.T.I application, on 14-12-2009 demanding the action taken report on our complaint lodged.

Actions taken:

The reply came on 25-01-2010 regarding the CAT card issue and they made certain fare revisions. They claimed that according to new fare revision they have restricted CAT card holders from performing break journey so that they cannot avail additional concession than they originally deserved.

This is the power of R.T.I which made R.T.C to revise and review their loopholes and even correct their mistake to save public money. Please come forward to fight against any such incidents that you come across every day. We are here to help you.

Please download Complaint, RTI and Replies here.

APSRTC service quality improvisation

What was the problem? :

Over the years there were growing problems in R.T.C that aroused different difficulties for the passengers. The major problems included no details of bus routes and bus timings in bus stands, fitness of the buses, preference of luggage, ID cards for employees of R.T.C, Cleanliness of buses, etc. among various others.

What do rules say? :

A.P.S.R.T.C is the major road transport corporation in Andhra Pradesh that provides bus facilities all over the state. The services of R.T.C vary from district services to city services including various others too. It should take all necessary steps to provide the required facility to each and every passenger.

What have we done? :

We lodged a complaint, on 11-11-2009, with 30 complaints and suggestions, to the R.T.C and asked to take the required actions, so as to rectify their drawbacks to provide quality service. But the complaint was not taken seriously. So we used RTI act to file an application, on 14-12-2009, requesting an action taken report on the complaint lodged and the conversational note files with each department concerned.

Actions taken:

The reply came on 10-02-2010 with all the action taken reports and the note files of conversation between the concerned departments. Though the total information was not fully furnished, some issues were clarified and some cases were solved. The suggestions were said to be accepted, but the steps taken to implement those were not mentioned. They also defended themselves in some serious issues like Fitness certificates of buses, where they said that all buses are in good fitness conditions. This doesn’t seem to be true when we look at so many ordinary buses, running on roads, that don’t seem to be in good condition.

Though this is a partial victory by us, we have achieved to gain some information about:

• The presence of complaints book with each conductor.
• The steps taken to provide timetable to each and every bus stop, with depot manager and other concerned authorities phone numbers.
• Their confession regarding the destination boards, which were not available in many routes and also not present in our regional language.
• The plans to provide bus service to all the villages that are a bit far away from the main road.
• The formation of teams to have regular inspection of private vehicles. The teams include R.T.C, R.T.A and Police department officials.

This is the power of R.T.I to evoke some response on a complaint lodged against an organization, which otherwise wouldn’t have cared.

Please download Complaint, RTI and Replies here.

MGBS-Bus stand activity -Update

After all our efforts, it is only the results that keep us going.At the end of a tired day at work, it is only a fight won against the evil forces, that can bring a smile back on our face.

Remember the mail we have sent to you few days back regarding the work we have done in bus stations to get all the shops registered ?We are amused to see the results today.

MGBS -Monitoring the registration procedures for shops

Dear All,

The war is declared yet again..and it goes on.. Until we see the Indian flag fly high in the sky ... until we see the Proud India..Developed India..which does not contain even the traces of corruption and injustice in it.

Yes, we fought against illegal business and corruption. While thousands of people visit MGBS ,Hyderabad to catch their bus to the destination, we visited it over the weekend, hoping that the event would take us to the times we are dreaming about. See more details below..

Event : Monitoring the registration n renewal procedures for shops at MGBS - Working with labour officials
Date  : 01 May April 2010
Place : MGBS, Hyderabad
Office(s) Involved : APSRTC and Labour department
Purpose :

1. To make sure that stalls in Bus stand got registered and renewed every year with labour department
2. To make sure that all employers/shop owners are providing benefits to employees as per the AP shops and establishments Act 1988

This will help us to generate revenue to government and protect the rights/welfare of the employees

Sections Used and Details :

1. RTI Act 2005, section 6(I) gives the power to every individual to get the information from any public authority.
2. RTI Act 2005, section 2(j)(II) says that every one has the right to get the certified copies of the desired data/files.
3. As per AP shops and establishment act, sec 17, every shop owner/company has to be registered with Labor department and certain facilities has to be provided to employee

For more information on Labour department, please refer following site, http://labour.ap.gov.in/

Procedure :

Anybody who would like to do this event in your city/town/mandal,

1. File a RTI to the APSRTC requesting the information of all stalls(name of the stalls, monthly licence, ...) which are in your respective bus stations.
2. File a RTI to the labour department requesting the information of stalls which are registered with Labour department as per AP shops and establishments Act.
3. Compare both the information received and list out the shops which are in bus stands and not registered with labour department.
4. File a complaint with labour department.
5. File a RTI to labour department to request the status of above complaint
6. File a RTI to commercial tax department for the taxes that are being paid by the shop owners.
7. Compare the license fee of each stall from step1 and data from step6.
8. If you find anything crunchy, please file a RTI to commercial tax department

Activities Done :

1. Filed RTI with both deparments and got the required information.It is unbelievable to understand that ONLY 2 shops are registered with labor department out of 104 stalls in MGBS (Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station, Hyderabad)
2. Filed a complaint and the RTI to labour department
3. Got a call from labour department that we can monitor them when they are doing registration of shops in MGBS .
4. We as a team attended this program and monitored the whole procedure.

(LATEST on this : 24 shops are registred by EOD(End of the Day ) yesterday. We expect all the shops to be registered by the end of this week)

Advantages :

1. Govt will get revenue if all these shops gets registered and renewed every year.
2. Employee benefits from employer/shop owner.
3. Employee must get appointment letter while joining.
4. Employee can NOT be terminated without a valid reason.
5. Working hours for an employee should only be 8 hours/ day or 48hours/week.
6. There must be at least one weekly holiday for every employee.
7. There must be minimum 9 national holidays for all employees.
8. Casual leaves should be available to all the employees.
9. Employee must get extra salary if he works onholidays.
10. Employees who work for registered shop owners/company get some benefits from government as well (Like money for childrens marriage, scholarship for childrens education).There are many other benefits for employees, which are not known to all.
11. We can catch illegal business owners who are not implementing above rules
12. Organizations will now be more disciplined and the surprise visits by the responsible people will make every Govt. employee work diligently.

In a simple sentence " More disciplined, Transparent and Corruption free Society"

Our Team:

1. Srinivas Rao Ganji
2. Sumathi
3. Devi Prasad
4. Pradeep
5. Uday Bhaskar
6. Abdul Azeez
7. Raghavendra.

Please find below the link for photos of the event, http://picasaweb.google.com/LoksattaSanjeevani/01May2010MonitoringTheRegistrationsAtMGBS#

All these attachments will also be uploaded at "files" section of this group.
Please join us in these activities and let us all work for the betterment of society that we all dream of, every minute and every day.

Thanks & Regards,
  Loksatta Party