Telangana’s Dalit Bandhu helps this driver duo become owners of bus

From driver to owner - the transformation in the lives of Ragula Sagar and Nerella Shekhar is nothing short of a fairy tale

Rajanna-Sircilla: From driver to owner – the transformation in the lives of Ragula Sagar and Nerella Shekhar is nothing short of a fairy tale.

Residents of Chandurthi mandal headquarters, Sagar and Shekhar used to work as drivers of the TSRTC’s hired buses in Vemulawada depot. The two, in the driving profession for the last 22 years, were working hired bus drivers for the last seven years.

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With expenses rising, and their income being not sufficient, they began searching for alternative income sources. And that was when they heard about the Dalit Bandhu scheme.

Since they were drivers, they thought of purchasing a bus. Armed with a proposal that the bus could be given on rent to the TSRTC, they approached district officials, who also put all out efforts to ground the unit. Besides getting Rs.20 lakh (Rs.10 lakh each) under the Dalit Bandhu scheme, the two managed to secure a bank loan of Rs.22 lakh from the State Bank of India to purchase a bus spending Rs.42 lakh. The unit was sanctioned in December, 2022, and two months later, they rented the bus out to the RTC.

Sagar, a Gulf returnee said that per month, they were earning Rs.1.40 lakh from RTC rent. After expenditure including the bank installment of about Rs 84,000, they were able to save approximately Rs.70,000 a month. Since they themselves were the drivers for the bus, each one of them was getting around Rs.35,000 to Rs.40,000 per month, he said.

With the two tasting success with the help of the Dalit Bandhu scheme, IT Minister KT Rama Rao, who along with Welfare Minister Koppula Eashwar, flagged off the bus earlier this week, also praised their endeavour.

“Driver to Owner. Sharing a very heartening success story of Telangana Dalit Bandhu from Vemulawada constituency. Sri Ragula Sagar and Sri Nerella Sekhar of Chandurthi Village; two enterprising men who used to work as drivers for others utilised Rs 20 lakh Dalit Bandhu amount and also availed Rs 22 lakh loan from SBI. Their bus is now tied up with TSRTC and currently runs profitably between Sircilla to Warangal,” he tweeted.