Rs 6,000 cr fund boost is what RTC eyes from the budget

Hyderabad: The ailing TSRTC expects good allocations in this year's budget with accumulated losses touching Rs 9,000 crore, and according to experts, the RTC would require a financial assistance of at least Rs 6,000 crore to come out of losses.

Like never before in history, the TSRTC has been facing huge losses, and the Covid pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to it as the Corporation is unable to get revenue even during the earning times. According to experts, the allocations have also been on a lower side to the Corporation during the successive years.

The State government has been allocating Rs 1,500 crore in the last couple of years. During the previous year's budget, the government allocated Rs 1,500 crore for the Corporation and another Rs 1,500 crore as assistance as guarantee to the loans raised by the RTC.

However, the experts said that the Corporation would require almost Rs 6,000 crore to come out of slumber. Former board of director of APSRTC and trade union leader M Nageswara Rao said, "As RTC is experiencing extreme financial distress with Rs 9,000 crore of losses as on January 31, this year and more than Rs 5,000 crore as loans, there is an urgent need to rescue the government-owned RTC from financial quagmire."

He urged Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to allocate Rs 6,000 crore in the ensuing budget 2022-23 to RTC as one time grant towards the payment of dues of workers and also to procure new buses in the interest of the people in general.

K Hanumanthu Mudiraj of Telangana Jathiya Mazdoor Union (TJMU) expressed similar views on the budget. He said that though the government had allocated Rs 1,500 crore during the previous budget, not all the money was released. The money which the government releases is for the reimbursement of the bus passes and others. The Corporation has utilised around Rs 2,500 crore belonging to the workers like PF, CCS and others.