HYDERABAD: Reasons for Telangana State Road Transport Corporation’s (TSRTC) losses were earlier attributed to increased salaries and pensions of its employees. The cost involved in the maintenance of buses has now proved to be another strong reason for the corporation’s lack of profit.
In 2016, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corportion (GHMC) bailed out TSRTC by handing out `198 crore compensating for financial losses incurred for operations within the state capital limits. The cost incurred for the maintenance of ordinary buses that run within the GHMC limits is low but that is not the case for vehicles procured through Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
In 2015, TSRTC had added to their fleet 552 buses through the JNNURM. Though 100 of the buses were to service the districts, they were redirected to service on Hyderabad roads.
According to Chief Maintenance Engineer with TSRTC, O Venkateswrlu, the shortage of spare parts is for the TATA marcopolo vehicles procured through JNNURM. The steep pricing of spare parts and their lack of availability has severely affected the quality of maintenance of these buses.
The cost of maintenance of these buses is attributed as one of the reasons why TSRTC is facing financial losses.
TSRTC is unable to phase out these vehicles as the vehicles have not completed their mandatory service period. “Our policy of disposal of vehicles is 13 lakh kms for city or more than 15 years in terms of age, which ever criteria comes up first,” said Venkateswarlu. “We are not able to even run them for 4 to 5 lakh kms and we can’t dispose them unless we meet the criteria or get special permission to do so from the government,” he added.
There are presently 200 to 220 TATA marcopolo vehicles that are still functional. The rest of the vehicles that were of semi low flooring have been refurbished at TSRTCs Miyapur bus body building facility in Hyderabad.
The maintenance department of TSRTC has so far not received funding for the years 2015-16 and 2016-17. The last time they were funded was for the time period 2013-14 with `5 crore for tools and machines. This year the department has requested `11 crore to buy the needed tools.
To be continued...