Hyderabad:
A state of the art bulletproof and fireproof Mercedes Benz luxury coach is the prized new acquisition of Telangana government for the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s (KCR) convoy.
The air-conditioned coach with many facilities including a meeting room and WiFi connectivity has reached Hyderabad from Chandigarh where all the fittings and furnishings were done.
The white colour coach which has a capacity to accommodate 12 passengers was welcomed with formal rituals Friday morning in Hyderabad.
Officials said that after necessary test runs it will be formally inducted for the use of the Chief Minister soon. “Primarily it will be used for his district tours”, a senior police officer said.
KCR, known for his fondness to use helicopters for his visits to different parts of the state and undertake aerial surveys recently decided to prefer the road over the sky. The new acquisition will enable him to spend more time in the districts as he can spend the night in the comfort in his office-cum-home on wheels.
KCR also need not step out of the bus to address the people, as it has a hydraulic lift system to take him to the rooftop of the coach which is equipped with a modern public address system.
The german vehicle cost the Telangana government a cool Rs50 million (Dh2.90 million). The job of making the vehicle one that was fit for a king was supervised by the experts from the state Road Transport Corporation.
The vehicle is high on security. In fact it is said to be so secure even a powerful mine explosion will not cause any harm to the occupants. “The occupants will not even feel the mine blast”, the policeman said.
Ever since near fatal attack by Maoists on the life of then Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in October 2003 at Tiruamala Hills using claymore mines, the security agencies have to make extra arrangements to protect VIPs in the state from the recurrence of such attacks apart from the usual threats of sniper bullets or bombs.
However KCR’s new acquisition has evoked sharp reaction from the main opposition Congress party. “The money should have been used to help the poor”, said senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao who questioned the need for such a bus.
However KCR has his Andhra Pradesh counterpart and bête noire N Chandrababu Naidu for company. The latter also had a penchant for such vehicles and air-conditioned buses to undertake extensive road tours for nearly one and a half decades.
