Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar with Department of Special Principal Secretary for Transport, Housing and General Administration (Union Government Coordination and Smart Governance) Vikas Raj at a media conference in Hyderabad on Wednesday. | Photo credit: NAGARA GOPAL
The Telangana government on Wednesday announced the abolition of all transport department check posts across the state, marking a major administrative shift aimed at reducing corruption and increasing transparency in vehicular movement.
Talking to the media, Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said that the decision, which was finalized two months ago, has been implemented through a Government Order (GO) from today. The move is part of the government’s drive to provide citizen-friendly services and bring more transparency, and comes after the Anti-Corruption Bureau targeted as many as 12 checkpoints and uncovered cases of corruption.
The transport department will now turn to artificial intelligence across the resort’s 63 centers to record who enters and leaves the resort’s offices, particularly those who frequent the premises, an indication to brokers and agents. Cameras have been installed for control and every effort is being made to eliminate middlemen.
The minister noted that the integration of data with the national digital platforms Vahan and Sarathi has started after a delay of ten years. “28 states are using Vahan and Sarathi. Telangana has now joined them and data transformation is underway,” he said. The state is also implementing a scrapping policy and has written to the police and RTC department to send old vehicles for scrapping.
On the push to introduce electric mobility, Mr. Prabhakar said the state’s electric vehicle (EV) policy has started showing tangible results. “We have given tax exemptions of ₹577 crore after the implementation of this policy. The share of electric car sales has increased from 0.03% to 1.13%,” he said. He added that permission has been given for up to 20,000 electric autorickshaws in Hyderabad. The green light was also given for 10,000 LPG and CNG vehicles and 25,000 retrofitted vehicles.
Mr. Prabhakar said the department has adopted a new logo besides changing the acronym from TS to TG. Enforcement was supplemented by the recruitment and training of 112 assistant motor vehicle inspectors.
With as many as 1.7 million vehicles on Telangana roads, the minister said the government is committed to ensuring transparency and accountability.
Since there seems to be an increase in new vehicle sales after the GST cut, he said the numbers will be reviewed soon and an analysis will be done on how it will affect traffic.
Published – 22 Oct 2025 19:22 IST
