Hyderabad: The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) has sent a proposal to the state government to increase the fare of its bus tickets in a bid to cope up with losses caused by the covid pandemic, and aggravated due to the price hike in diesel and spare parts.
Addressing a press conference at Dr BR Ambedkar Transport Bhavan here on Wednesday, TSRTC managing director, VC Sajjanar, said that the ticket fare hike is vital for the survival and progress of the corporation.
The press conference was attended by the state transport minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar, TSRTC chairman Bajireddy Govardhan and other officials.
“The corporation has proposed a hike of 25 paise per kilometre for ordinary and Palle Velugu buses and 30 paise per kilometre for express buses and other services. I request the honourable minister to consider the proposal of the TSRTC management and take it to the chief minister because it’s long overdue,” Sajjanar said.
The transport minister, in response, said that he will take the proposal to the chief minister and request him to take it under consideration as early as possible and see that TSRTC recovers from heavy losses.
Citing a survey conducted by the RTC via a private organisation, the minister stated that common people aren’t bothered about the ticket fare “According to the survey results, only 4.3 percent of commuters are bothered about the ticket fare hike. Majority of them are worried about the problems that TSRTC faces,” he added.
Talking about the losses suffered by the RTC, the minister said 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 crores this year. It will come down more in the coming time,” he said.
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.