Hyderabad: The management of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) on Wednesday demanded that the State Government increase the fares of RTC buses.
Addressing a press conference at Dr BR Ambedkar Transport Bhavan, TSRTC Chairman Bajireddy Goverdhan and Managing Director V.C.Sajjanar said that a fare hike was vital for the survival and progress of the Corporation and RTC management has submitted a proposal for fare hike to the Government.
The TSRTC proposes for a hike of 25 Paise /Km for ordinary and Pallevelugu and 30 paise/km for other services. RTC needs 6.80 lakh litres of diesel every day to run its fleet. Diesel prices have gone up by 27.5% since the last fare hike in December 2019. 95% of revenue of the TSRTC comes only from Tickets sale. They have submitted a proposal for a fare hike to the Government.
Talking to the media in the presence of Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar, TSRTC Chairman Bajireddy Govardhan and other officials, V.C. Sajjanar said that the fare hike was necessitated due to the losses mounting up. The losses are partly due to the Covid pandemic which then aggravated with the hike in fuel (diesel) charges and bus spare parts. “The Corporation has proposed a hike of 25 paise per kilometer for ordinary and Palle Velugu buses and 30 paise per kilometer for express, deluxe, garuda and other buses. The bus fares were hiked 20 paise last time in December 2019, but, that didn’t help much because of the Covid. While it was in recovery mode it was badly hit with the second wave.
The current fare hike may not bail it out of losses but at least gives it some respite/cushion to run it well. He further requested the Hon’ble Minister present in the press conference to consider the proposal of the TSRTC management and take it to the Hon’ble Chief Minister and Government because it’s long overdue”.
The transportation sector is the biggest sufferer in the covid, he added. The transport minister responded positively to the request of the MD of TSRTC and said he would take up the proposal to the Chief Minister for his consideration and necessary action.
He echoed with Sajjanar that the hike is mandated as early as possible and see that TSRTC recovers from the heavy losses.
Before mooting the proposal to hike the fares the TSRTC Management has conducted a survey and found that barring just 4%, most felt that safety, hygiene was necessary and were not bothered much about the hike of the fare. Just 4.3% of the people surveyed had a concern about the hike. Rest could understand the problem of the corporation. This also shows the patronage to public transportation.
The Minister added that the corporation had suffered losses to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore in the last two years. “The loss came down to 600 crore and will go down further in coming years,” he said the operations are slowly limping back to normalcy.
It has already clocked a daily revenue of Rs 11.5 crore, which is almost the same as pre-covid times. The fleet has been traveling to 33 lakh kilometres, which is almost like normalcy.
He urged people to understand the plight of the corporation. The price of diesel in 2019 was 68.29 and now it is 87.27 per litre. There is a difference of 27.5% hike. The fleet of the corporation consumes 6.80 lakh litres of diesel every day. It is not just RTC, but almost the prices of all essential commodities have also gone up. Commuters are also aware of these things. There may be an initial resistance but they will certainly cooperate with the corporation, he added.
On the question of privatizing bus routes and the sale of RTC assets to generate revenue, Sajjanar replied that there hasn’t been any such proposal regarding both issues. Speaking on the occasion, TSRTC Chairman Bajireddy Govardhan said, 633 busses are in scrap condition and 1400 are not good to ply. He also agreed with the proposal of the RTC Managing Director and requested the Hon’ble Chief Minister and Government to consider the Fare Hike proposal.
Secretary to Govt (Transport) K.Srinivasa Raju, Special Secretary Viziendira Boyi and Transport Commissioner M.R.M.Rao were present during the press meet. (INN)