When the whole system is built on such basic, structural illegalities, discussing whether they were speeding, whether they failed to notice a bike on the road, or whether the driver only studied up to the tenth class becomes like wringing one’s hands – crying but achieving nothing.
Published Nov 05, 2025 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 05, 2025 | 7:00 AM
Private bus transport operators have become mafias, challenging public transport.
Synopsis: When an accident happens, people make a fuss for a day or two, and by the third day they forget it – or, when another accident or a bigger problem occurs, the old one is forgotten and the clamour shifts to the new. Public life continues like this, a never-ending chain of problems, accidents and amnesias. In reality, from beginning to end, the transport business in both the Telugu states is a fraudulent enterprise run by private bus operators who have established near-monopoly control over the transport sector. In such illicit trade, accidents are not random occurrences.
The Vemuri Kaveri Travels sleeper bus travelling from Hyderabad to Bengaluru met with an accident near Chinna Tekuru in Kurnool district in the early hours of Friday, 24 October, and twenty people were burnt alive.
That weekend, the main television channels, newspapers and social media carried heart-rending reports and responses. Among the dead were people from both the Telugu states—six from each—as well as residents of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Bihar and Odisha. Grief spread across many places. Channels and newspapers overflowed with tears. There was also some anger. The question of who was responsible for these deaths arose.
But three days later everything returned to normal. When an accident happens, people make a fuss for a day or two, and by the third day they forget it – or, when another accident or a bigger problem occurs, the old one is forgotten and the clamour shifts to the new. Public life continues like this, a never-ending chain of problems, accidents and amnesias.
In reality, from beginning to end, the transport business in both the Telugu states is a fraudulent enterprise run by private bus operators who have established near-monopoly control over the transport sector. In such illicit trade, accidents are not random occurrences; they are the predictable outcome of a series of events carried out according to a designed plan.
All the government regulatory agencies that should control that illegal trade allow it to run smoothly. The political leadership that frames the policies and makes the decisions includes the private bus owners themselves, their close associates, or people who receive favours from those owners.
So, no matter how many discussions take place about whether the Chinna Tekuru accident was caused by a bike lying across the road, a biker falling drunk onto the road, or the bus driver lacking proper qualifications or a driving licence and driving at excessive speed, those conversations do not reach the roots of the problem. If we do not understand the problem at its roots, we will never find a solution.
First of all, under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (including the 2019 amendments), which governs all transport services in the country, these private buses should not be running on the roads at all.
Under that law, there are only three principal permits. One, a stage carriage permit – this allows carrying and dropping passengers at many points on a specified route. This permit is tightly regulated by the government. In the two Telugu states, the government RTC services operate under this permit. This permit is generally not issued to any transport operator other than government-sector services.
Two, a contract carriage permit – this applies to buses that take a specific group of passengers from one fixed point to another fixed point without picking up or dropping anyone on the way. It covers buses that transport employees, workers and students. Those running under this permit cannot sell tickets to people outside those groups, either collectively or individually.
Three, an all-India tourist permit – this is issued only for tourism purposes, for buses that travel through several states. Such buses should operate solely for tourism needs. They are supposed to have push-back seats, air-conditioning and tourist logos.
Since the days of united Andhra Pradesh, and even now in both states, hundreds of private buses that run daily do not have stage carriage permits. Taking either contract carriage permits or tourist permits, they operate like stage carriages. That is a fundamental violation of the law.
Under a contract carriage permit, one cannot sell individual tickets. Such services cannot run every day from one point to another at the same times. They cannot pick up or drop passengers en route. These three categories of illegal actions are exactly what private buses carry out indiscriminately every day.
While such massive illegality continues, the government pretends not to see it. Authorities argue that government transport services cannot meet people’s requirements, that private transport operators fill the gap, and that there are indirect benefits—fuel taxes, service taxes, booking commissions and employment generation—so the system cannot be disturbed. All of these are certainly excuses.
Governments in power intentionally weakened the RTC, rendered it incapable, and now claim it cannot fill the gap; therefore, private operators have stepped in.
More importantly, private bus transport operators have become mafias, challenging public transport. They have amassed crores, the owners themselves enter politics or influence politicians, and they ensure no action is taken against them.
The government machinery that has the power to stop these illegal operations—RTO officials, police officers and others—are known to take bribes from private bus owners and allow these illegalities to continue.
It is true that those officials are at fault, but we cannot simply pin the entire blame on them. While officials play a role, the literal truth is that political decision-making power allows the transport mafia’s illegality to continue.
Occasionally, officials put on a show of policing private buses, stopping and issuing challans. Typically, they charge that the bus is operating as a stage carriage while holding a contract carriage permit, or that it is running on a route without a route permit, or that taxes have not been paid, or that registration is irregular.
There are also reports that buses have been seized. But the next day the illegality is pardoned with fines ranging from ten to twenty thousand rupees, or it is absolved through the influence of political leaders.
Alongside these fundamental illegalities and lawlessness, the transport mafia indulges in many other crimes. Have you ever looked at the number plates of these private buses? In ten buses, at least six have number plates starting with AR, NL or SK – Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Sikkim.
Why do buses running in the Telugu states carry number plates of those north-eastern states? This is not limited to the two Telugu states; the same situation exists in rich states such as Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka.
While the lifetime road tax for luxury buses in the Telugu states is between twelve and eighteen percent, it is only between two and four percent in Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.
Therefore, instead of registering a luxury bus costing a crore here, if it is registered in those north-eastern states, the owner saves ten to fifteen lakh rupees. Each operator owns dozens of buses, so the savings run into crores.
If those buses were registered and lifetime road tax paid here, the state treasuries would have received crores of rupees. Thus, crores that should have gone into state coffers are being siphoned off – another crucial point.
To register a vehicle, one should physically take the vehicle to the RTO. But due to the corruption of road transport officials in the north-eastern states, buses are being registered without the vehicles ever moving there. Brokers send paperwork and provide fake local addresses to get registrations done.
A large broker system has been created for this fraud. With the collusion of road transport, police and insurance officials, these things happen. All those buses are registered as all-India tourist permit vehicles to evade local taxes, but none of them ever operate for tourist purposes.
An all-India permit vehicle registered in one state cannot operate in another state for more than twelve months. But because the owners and the passengers are here, these buses keep running here even after a year with the blessing of officials and the arrogance of owners.
An even bigger fraud than these is running two or three buses under one registration. Some time ago, people raised controversy when they noticed one number being used for a bus going in one direction and another bus coming from the opposite direction, but no action was taken.
There are no systems to catch such frauds. And even if they are caught, it is easy for the transport mafia to get them released within moments.
When the whole system is built on such basic, structural illegalities, discussing whether they were speeding, whether they failed to notice a bike on the road, or whether the driver only studied up to the tenth class becomes like wringing one’s hands – crying but achieving nothing.
Along with these illegalities, when the philosophical attitude persists that “whoever dies has no one to mourn for them” – that their death is the will of God or their karma, so no one can be held responsible, so no one should be punished.
While that fatalistic sentiment fills our minds, how many more deaths like those of the Chinna Tekuru victims must occur before we remove that fatalism?
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
