CHENNAI: The Coronavirus-induced lockdown has hit the fleet of 1.5 lakh vehicles under the Private Passenger Services hard, affecting livelihood of 18 lakh people. Bus and Car Operators Confederation of India (BOCI) and Tamil Nadu Omni Bus Owners’ Association (TOBOA), representing private passenger transport operators have urged the State government to provide immediate relief.
With no income coming their way, many operators have taken to selling vegetables during the day and food in the afternoon from their vehicles, said Mohammed Afzal, president, Tamil Nadu Omni Bus Owners’ Association and general secretary of BOCI. It is learnt that the private passengers services is losing Rs 1,500 crore per month during lockdown.
It is not only the omni buses that are hit. Ever since the nationwide lockdown was announced,the IT and industrial units have been shut and this has brought the staff bus transport also to a grinding halt across the State. The sector has made several representations to the authorities in the transport department, Ministries of state and to the Deputy Chief Minister of State to draw their attention to multitudes of issues faced by the sector.
With many operators in dire straits and on the verge of bankruptcy, the current pandemic situation has caused severe distress in the transport sector. It is learnt that the private passenger services in the state is losing Rs 1,500 crore.
"This includes five to 17 percent in toll tax and motor vehicle tax, 40 percent on diesel tax, GST of 5 to 12 percent centand 28 percent tax on purchase of new vehicles. On a whole of the 1500 crore loss, 55 per cent goes to the state's kitty," he says adding that the government has been dead to their pleas of tax waiver and extension of moratorium by six months.
While the operators are pinning their hopes on opening up the transportation sector by September when they hope the vaccine will be launched, Afza says that it will be difficult on operators to start anew with bankers at their doors demanding repayment of loans. "We want the government to extend the moratorium by another six months or help us pay the salaries of our employees through the Provident Fund which we promise to pay back in the next two years," he says.
He also highlighted that opening up of the economy is not possible without the opening of the transport sector. Even the state transport corporations are also struggling. The plight was such that the state government was forced to borrow Rs 1200 crore from State Bank of India by giving bank guarantees to pay three month salaries for the state employees.
Afzal says the financial turmoil caused due to the lockdown has resulted in a total collapse of the financial model of the public transport sector. "With the total lack of fund flows, we are currently reaching a state of insolvency thus we are compelled to plead before the Government to support the sector by granting a waiver of taxes for the sector," he says.
The sector has made several representations to the authorities in the transport department, Ministries of state and to the Deputy Chief Minister of State for Tamil Nadu which include waiver on Motor Vehicle Tax for six months; waiver on Toll tax for public transport vehicles; reduction in state tax and CESS on Diesel for public transport sector vehicles for next six months; portal access to interact with RTO for payment of fees, documentation besides insurance coverage to drivers and transport workers working during pandemic to ferry passengers and allowing utilization of ESI / EPF funds to pay staff salaries.
Registration of vehicles drop:
Meanwhile, the registration of vehicles across the state have dipped due to the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown in many parts of the state but demand for tractors have been on the upswing when compared to June 2019.
According to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), a total of 1.10 lakh vehicles across the state were registered in June 2020 when compared to 1.51 lakh vehicles registered in June 2019, a fall of 26.92 per cent.
In June a total of 2,641 tractors were registered as against 1,578 vehicles, a rise of 67.36 per cent compared to June 2019. Rural markets led by a robust crop situation of previous harvest and timely arrival of monsoons has witnessed demand recovery in comparison to urban areas, therefore leading surge in retail sales of tractors, FADA study says.