VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) has decided to buy high-speed diesel from retail outlets from March 1, instead of going for bulk purchases.
Addressing a press conference at the RTC House here on Tuesday, APSRTC vice-chairman and managing director Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao said the Corporation used to procure HSD for 129 depots across the State directly from oil manufacturing companies (OMCs) such as IOCL, HPCL and BPCL at competitive rates.
Recently, the Centre has directed OMCs to keep the retail HSD oil price, which impacts the common man, at the same level Rs 96.02 per litre from November 2021. The Centre also allowed the OMCs to hike the HSD oil price for the bulk consumers like APSRTC, TSRTC, Singareni and major power generation plants.
The advantage in HSD price availed by the Corporation is Rs 15 per litre in November 2021 got reduced gradually in three months and reached almost zero by February 1.
At present, the bulk HSD oil price for RTC is more than the retail price to the extent of Rs 4.30 per litre. As a result, the RTC has to spend Rs 31 lakh additionally per day, Rs 2.5 crore in a week and Rs 10 crore per month.
“Neighbouring states such as Telangana, Kerala and Pondicherry also decided to purchase diesel through retail price rather than going for bulk purchases,” he said. Rao said the corporation is exploring the possibility of giving some of its revenue to the government and a decision would be taken after discussing the matter.