HYDERABAD: Amid talks of privatisation of the TSRTC, questions are being raised as to who should be blamed for the losses, which only got worse during the pandemic. Retired officials, who have seen the good and the bad days of the transport behemoth, feel that the corporation can still overcome the predicament. It may not break even at this juncture, but could return to its pre-Covid state in terms of revenue generation, they feel.
The corporation recently pegged its losses due to the pandemic at Rs 2,200 crore, and currently, the losses are estimated at Rs 90 crore per month. Some believe that the RTC’s downfall began with the implementation of the PRC, wherein 44 per cent fitment to RTC employees was announced, besides regularising scores of employees within a short span in 2015. This had put an additional burden of Rs 75 crore on the corporation that year. When the Budget was Rs 1,875 crore, the RTC faced a deficit of over Rs 1,000 crore, as the government had failed to fulfil its promise of financial support.
Speaking to Express, one of the retired officials who had served as the Executive Director of the RTC said that to overcome the losses, the corporation should fine-tune and focus on increasing OR (Occupancy Ratio) for each bus, as a hike in bus fare might have its own implications. He pointed out that a total waiver or at least a discount in Motor Vehicle Tax, VAT, along with government support (both the State and Centre) and capital investment (as ordained by the RTC Act) would help the RTC.
“MV Tax is about 7% on total revenue generation, besides the back-breaking VAT of 28%. When the Airlines has meagre VAT (1%) (TS brought down the tax from 16% to 1% in March 2018), why not do the same for the RTC to help it overcome losses? KCR himself had promised to bring down VAT, after coming to power,” the official said.
A few other officials said that increased political interference after the formation of Telangana has to be blamed for the RTC’s state of affairs, as the role of the executive in decision making was minimised. “After the formation of Telangana, the MD was never given a free hand. More interventions came from unions and the executive was sidelined. Interestingly, one of the recognised unions was led by Harish Rao, who is now a Cabinet minister,” said another retired official who served at one of the top positions.