The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Major move to bail out RTC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 20, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Major move to bail out RTC

Staff Reporter

Government to reimburse revenue loss

HYDERABAD: In a major relief to the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC), the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has agreed to reimburse the revenue loss of Rs. 340 crores that is annually incurred by the corporation due to the concessions extended to various sections.

A decision to this effect was taken after the Transport Minister, S. Santosh Reddy, the APSRTC Chairman, G. Prakash Rao, and other senior officials met Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy on Thursday.

Mr. Santosh Reddy informed the Chief Minister that the corporation was extending concessions to students, journalists, elected representatives, freedom fighters and the differently-abled persons.

The Chief Minister said that the respective departments would bear the cost of the concessions extended to different groups and the same would be deducted from their budgetary allocation.

Dr. Reddy directed RTC officials to prepare a revival package to improve its finances and submit the same in a week. The accumulated losses of the corporation increased to Rs. 1,241 crores till the end of March this year. It was paying an interest of Rs. 106 crores per annum on the loans availed so far.

No decision on reducing the Motor Vehicle (MV) tax was taken as the Finance Minister, K. Rosaiah, was not present.

The corporation had been urging the Government to bring down the MV tax from 12 per cent and make it on par with that prevalent in Karnataka or Tamil Nadu, where the tax was between three and five per cent.

Mr. Santosh Reddy told The Hindu that plans were afoot to sell or lease out RTC lands in the State. To begin with, 3.5 acres of RTC prime land in the Ranigunj area in Secunderabad would come up for outright sale or lease. The corporation hoped to raise Rs. 50 crores from sale or Rs. 2 crores annually by way of rents if the property was leased out on Build, Operate and Transfer basis. The meeting was attended by the RTC Managing Director, M.V. Krishna Rao, the Principal Secretary, Transport, A.K. Tigdi, and others.

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