Hyderabad: The loss-making Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), which was about to achieve its financial target during the just concluded fiscal year, has again started facing financial woes owing to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases.
Due to the spike in the cases, the number of passengers travelling in TSRTC buses in the Greater Hyderabad Zone have decreased significantly. It is likely to decrease further in the days to come. The occupancy in RTC buses has decreased by about 50 percent during the last few weeks. Closure of educational institutions too has impacted its income adversely as the TSRTC is losing about Rs 1 crore daily.
According to RTC officials, the corporation did well financially after the resumption of its services from September to March. However, due to surge in COVID-19 cases, the RTC income is decreasing once again. Executive director of the Greater Hyderabad zone, V Venkateshwarlu, said the RTC revenue was about Rs. 2.7 cr. Due to the recent spike in the number of cases, the revenue decreased by Rs 0.7 crore, he added.
V Venkateshwarlu said, “Currently the RTC plies 2400 of its own and 400 hired buses to run 100% of its services. We have not received any guidelines from the state government to decrease our operations. We are regularly sanitizing the buses and keeping them cleaned.” Officials further said that the passengers are fearful to travel in RTC buses. However, they said, travelling in RTC buses with face mask is safe. Hands must be sanitized frequently.
The RTC services were resumed on September 25 last year after buses were not used for six months. On Sunday, Telangana reported over 5,000 new COVID-19 cases.