The AP State Road Transport Corporation is incurring huge losses on account of the strike by its employees belonging to 123 bus depots in 13 districts in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.
It has been incurring losses at the rate of Rs 12 crore a day since the strike commenced. Several thousands of buses belonging to the 123 depots in the two regions have been off the road since the announcement of Telangana state was made in Delhi on June 30.
Initially, the buses were relegated to bus depots due to agitations and bandhs by Samaikyandhra protagonists and later with the RTC staff themselves going on strike since the midnight of August 12, not a bus has moved out of the depots.
Besides, for the first in its history, RTC buses operated between Tirupati and Tirumala, the abode of Lord Venkateswara, were also stopped and were resumed partially after frantic negotiations by the state government. The Tirupati region of the corporation earns maximum revenue from its services to Tirumala.
RTC officials said the revenue losses were high in August when the demand for its peaks it being the wedding season. Many buses hired by marriage parties and the traffic of individual passengers from one place to the other is also comparatively high during this period.
Thus, in the last 24 days, its has incurred a revenue loss of Rs 288 crore at the rate of Rs 12 crore per day. The corporation, which has been suffering losses for years had recorded losses to the tune of Rs 514 crore in 2009-10 and Rs 314 crore in 2010-11. Its losses in 2011-12, amounting to Rs 584 crore, were the highest in a single financial year since the corporation’s inception. That was mainly on account of Sakala Janula Samme, when 50,000 of its employees in 10 Telangana districts went on strike for 42 days.
Yet again, the corporation is set on the path of losses, which as per its vice-chairman and managing director AK Khan, will put the very survival of APSRTC, the largest road transport corporation in the country, in jeopardy. Given the escalation fuel prices and costs of maintenance, the recovery of the organisation will be a huge task.