The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : RTC fare hike not for now

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 22, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

RTC fare hike not for now

Staff Reporter

YSR directs officials not to burden passengers

HYDERABAD: Monday's hike in fuel prices came as a rude shock to the State-owned Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC).

But the Government clearly indicated on Tuesday that it would go slow on the question of a hike in RTC fares. Sources said that the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, directed officials to work on ways to tide over the crisis and avoid burdening commuters.

The corporation's Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, M.V. Krishna Rao, said, while it would mean some pressure on the management to go for an increase in fares, it was not as if every petroleum price hike would invariably result in an increase.

"Fuel costs apart, we have other variable and fixed costs to think of before we can think of taxing passengers," he said.

Additional burden

For a corporation, which consumes an estimated 40-crore litres of high-speed diesel every year, this means an additional burden of Rs. 104 crores, he said, adding that post-hike, it would now have to pay Rs. 2.60 more per litre of diesel.

In the year 2004-05, RTC had registered a loss of Rs. 225 crores, with expenses of Rs. 3,440 crores against revenue of Rs. 3,215 crores. The largest chunks being Rs. 1,313 crores on salaries, Rs. 1,015 crores on purchase of diesel and Rs. 331 crores towards MV tax.

The corporation was reeling under cash flow problems. It bears a burden of over Rs. 1,400 crores of loans taken from financial institutions and pays Rs. 110 crores every year on interest alone.

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