Students of Telangana's Satavahana University are burning a hole in their pockets as there are no state transport buses available on their route and the bus stand is quite some distance away. Rakesh Nayak, a second-year MBA student at the university, said, "The lack of transport facilities are discouraging many to come to college. If a person is spending almost Rs 100 a day just on travelling, that is Rs 3,000 a month."
The issue was highlighted on Twitter by the All India OBC Students Association while campaigning for their demand to conduct a caste census. The students' body is visiting various universities as part of their campaign.
Kiran Kumar, President of AIOBCSA, said, "We went to talk to the Vice-Chancellor of Satavahana University about various issues but to our surprise, he himself went on to talk about a number of issues that the university is facing. We are seeing a very sorry state of higher education in state universities."
However, the university authorities present a different picture when asked about the issue. Dr E Manohar, Principal of the college of business management within the university, said, "Two years ago, we had requested Telangana Road Transport Corporation to arrange for buses. It was for morning and evening but only three or four students availed the facility. They stopped it completely."
Nayak pointed that many were not even aware of this facility back then. "If they do not know that there are buses available, how will they avail the facility? Osmania University has ensured bus facilities for their students so why can't we get it?"
When we contacted the office of the TSRTC Managing Director, they said that the concerned university authorities will have to put in a request with the road transport office in order to make the buses available on its route. Recently, Osmania University requested the road transport office and arranged for two special buses for women.
