TSRTC told to cut expenditure

​Hyderabad: The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) is contemplating cutting down expenditure and increasing internal efficiency in order to overcome losses. The accumulated losses are to the tune of Rs 2,500 crore in the state-owned road transport corporation.  

According to Transport Minister P Mahender Reddy, the corporation needs to cut down the expenditure and increase internal efficiency for betterment of the corporation. He was speaking after a review meeting of the Expert Committee, which was held at Bus Bhavan on Tuesday.

The Telangana government formed an expert committee to study the TSRTC and suggest plans and measures for functioning of the corporation. According to sources, the gap between the income and expenditure had been increasing every day and there are several reasons for this including diesel prices, stiff competition from private operators and illegal transportation. During a recent press conference, TSRTC Chairman S Satyanarayana said that while the income of the corporation was Rs 11 crore per day, the expenditure was Rs 14 crore per day resulting in a gap of Rs 3 crore.

As per the officials, presently 27 of the 97 depots are in profits. However, with some corrective measures like rescheduling of the buses and increasing the occupancy ratio, the corporation could reduce losses to a greater extent in 56 depots. However, the total losses from the depots are Rs 480 crore. 

The Greater Hyderabad Zone of the corporation is also under losses. While the income per day is Rs 3.6 crore, the expenditure is Rs 4.6 crore resulting in a loss of Rs 97 lakh per day. The corporation has a fleet of over 10,500 buses including over 3,800 buses in Greater Hyderabad.

Mahender Reddy said that keeping in view the condition of the RTC, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had formed an expert committee. The committee will thoroughly examine the corporation and suggest better facilities. The committee would also visit other states and see the various concessions provided by their RTCs. He further said that the government would take suggestions from the committee and bring reforms to take the corporation forward.

The RTC Chairman said that almost all the transport corporations in the country were under losses and the TSRTC was also facing losses. In charge MD Sunil Sharma said that the government was proposing to provide connectivity and single-ticketing system to Metro Rail, RTC buses, autos and cabs.