TIRUPATI: It is official -- the APSRTC management has decided to close down its B.Kothakota depot.

The depot was notorious for incurring perennial losses -- anywhere between Rs.50 lakhs and Rs.1 crore a year -- since its inception just over a decade back.

It was in 2001-02 that it touched rock bottom by reporting a whopping loss of Rs.1.34 crores, bringing down the region's overall performance. However, in the last financial year, it drastically reduced its losses to Rs.9 lakhs.

Financial year

In fact, the depot made a profit of Rs.49 lakhs this financial year up to October, raising hopes that it would stand as a case of `a chronic sick unit surging back into the reckoning'. Going by the depot's unimpressive track record, the RTC management decided to go ahead with the axing.

In the process, what has apparently been ignored is the depot's excellent pace of recovery, which should have been a major yardstick.

The depot was commissioned over a decade ago here in Thamballapalle constituency.

Revenue-earner

The Tirupati region is the highest revenue-earner, second only to the twin cities and the management is happy that the removal of this "sore spot" would push up its profits further. "Our region has earned a profit of Rs.22.51 crores up to November 2006 and B.Kothakota is likely to add a loss of Rs.10 lakhs to this figure at the year-end," a worried Regional Manager S. Dharma Reddy told The Hindu .

He assured the public not to have any apprehensions of a cut in fleet size due to the shutdown and said that the buses, moved to the neighbouring Madanapalle I and II depots, would be run as per schedule.

Employees' protest

Anantapur Staff Reporter writes: The members of APSRTC Employees Union and Staff and Workers Federation on Monday staged protests in front of Anantapur and Gooty bus depots, opposing the State Government decision to wind up the bus depot at Gooty.

The employees staged protests during lunch and tea breaks by wearing black badges and raising slogans against the management of APSRTC. Speaking at the protests, union leader V.V. Reddy, Kondaiah, V. N. Reddy, Umamaheshwar and others demanded that the Government stop closure of depots.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the RTC authorities had already transferred 38 of 54 buses of Gooty depot to Rayadurg, Anantapur, Tadipatri, Kalyanadurg, Guntakal and Uravakonda depots on Saturday and Sunday. - Staff Reporter

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