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Telangana may hike bus fares, electricity charges
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SME Times News Bureau | 22 Sep, 2021
The government of Telangana may hike the bus fares and electricity
tariff to overcome the losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic and increase
in fuel prices.
The proposals for revising the bus fares of
Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) and the electricity
charges will be discussed in the next cabinet meeting.
This
emerged after Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao reviewed the financial
position of state-owned transport body and Telangana power generation
and transmission corporations.
According to statement released
from the chief minister's office late Tuesday, the Cabinet at its next
meeting will discuss the proposals for increasing bus fares and
electricity tariff.
KCR, as the chief minister is popularly
known, regretted that the TSRTC has once again slipped into losses and
financial crisis due to increase in the price of petrol and diesel. He
recalled that two years ago strong measures were initiated to the put
the RTC back on track and when it was about to be on the recovery path,
Corona pandemic and increase in petrol and diesel again pushed it into
losses.
The CM made it clear that the government would take all the required measures to make the RTC stand on its own again.
The
officials informed the CM that since diesel price increased by Rs 22
per litre in the last one and half years, RTC had to bear an additional
loss of Rs 550 crore. They said along with the increased diesel and
petrol prices, the increase in the prices of tyres, tubes and other
spare parts of the buses was also pushing RTC into losses. All these
increased costs are putting Rs 600 crore additional burden on the
Corporation, they said.
The officials said with Corona pandemic
impact on one side and the increase in the price of petrol, diesel and
spare parts have doubled the adverse impact on the RTC financial
situation. They pointed out that the Corona pandemic lockdown had
resulted in the RTC losing Rs 3,000 crore revenue.
In Hyderabad
zone alone the losses were about Rs 90 crore per month, the officials
explained to the CM. They said 97 depots across the state were also
running into losses. In these troubled times, there was no option but
to increase the bus ticket rates, transport minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar
and RTC officials told KCR.
They also reminded the CM that the
government had announced in the Legislative Assembly in March 2020 that
the RTC bus fares would be increased but it did not implement the
increase due to Corona pandemic.
They said besides increasing the
bus fares, alternative sources of revenue have also to be explored. The
CM said that the government would take all the required measures to
support the RTC and asked the officials concerned to come out with a
report and proposals to the next Cabinet. He said the proposals would be
discussed in the Cabinet and decisions would be taken.
The chief
minister also had discussion with energy minister Jagadeesh Reddy and
Telangana Generation Corporation and Transmission Corporation CMD
Prabhakar Rao. They said that like all other sectors, the electricity
sector too is in heavy losses due to the Corona pandemic.
They
said that the electricity charges have not been increased for the past
six years and there was no option left but to increase them now to put
the power sector back on track.
KCR said that along with the RTC
proposals, proposals for the electricity department would also be
discussed in the next Cabinet and a decision would be taken.
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