Hyderabad: RTC coffers dry, has no money to pay salaries

Hyderabad: TSRTC may not be in position to pay salaries of employees in the coming months if the lockdown continues further, said a senior official on Wednesday. According to sources, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation faced losses of over Rs 275 crore and is poised to face a loss of another Rs 180 crore by the end of April due to lockdown in the state and the Corporation would have tough task to get revenues for payment of salaries to the staff for April month.

The Corporation earns a revenue of Rs 12 crore per day by virtue of operating over 10,500 buses and covering a distance of 34 lakh km everyday on 3,615 routes and transporting about one crore passengers to their destinations.

According to a senior official, the total operational losses for the corporation would be close to Rs 450 crore by the time lockdown-2 ends.

The operational revenue is the major source of income for the Corporation apart from other sources like rents of shops in depots, petrol bunks etc. The Corporation could get operational revenues of Rs 400 crore through which the salaries are adjusted.

The Corporation was under losses with 55 days of strike by the RTC workers and the ticket prices were increased to overcome the losses. Right after the strike, the Corporation could generate revenues during the Samakka Saralamma Jatara and other festivals and the officials expected good revenues but thanks to the coronavirus the corporation is again pushed into losses.

"The ensuing season was ideal for the corporation as the people would go to their native places, marriages and tourist destinations but all has come to standstill with the pandemic," said the senior official. He said that the corporation may not be in position to give salaries if this continue further.

Already the government has given 50 per cent salaries to the employees apart from payment of salaries for strike period. The employees are worried as the earning season had brought them losses.

Meanwhile, TSRTC MD Sunil Sharma announced that the Corporation would not operate buses till April 30 as per the extension of lockdown by the Telangana government. The RTC buses are off the roads since March 24 and they would be in depots till April 30.