Pay hike drives TSRTC into crisis; SOS after highest-ever loss reported
Hyderabad: The TSRTC has sent an SOS to the state government over its losses, mounting month after month. The corporation has urged the government to take a call on increasing bus fares at the earliest, to tide over the present financial crisis to at least some extent.
The TSRTC has witnessed highest ever losses of nearly Rs 700 crore in 2015-16. The steep pay hike for employees announced last year by the government without developing alternative financial resources is cited as the main reason for the mounting losses.
The RTC had never witnessed such huge losses even in undivided AP. The highest loss suffered by APSRTC earlier was in 2013-14, when it was Rs 989 crore. Of this, the Telangana region’s share was Rs 474 crore.
Officials who assessed the financial position of the corporation for the year ending March 31, 2016, were shocked to find TSRTC losses climbing to '701 crore, an increase of '227 crore over 2013-14.
The three major zones which contributed to the huge losses include Hyderabad city zone, Hyderabad zone and Karimnagar zone. While Hyderabad city zone suffered losses of Rs 336 crore, Hyderabad zone accumulated Rs 192 crore losses and Karimnagar zone Rs 173 crore losses.
The net loss of TSRTC rose from Rs 401 crore in 2014-15 to '701 crore in 2015-16. The 44 per cent fitment (basic hike in salary) announced by the government in May 2015 has led to a steep increase in salary bills pushing the corporation into a crisis.
With this, the annual salary bill surged to Rs 2,493 crore in 2015-16 from Rs 1,844 crore in 2014-15, an increase of Rs 649 crore, which included the first instalment of salary hike arrears of Rs 220 crore. This was since the salary hike was made applicable from June 2014, forcing the corporation to pay arrears from June 2014 to May 2015 in instalments.
Though the RTC's income increased from '3,991 crore in 2014-15 to '4,092 crore in 2015-16, the expenditure also increased from '4,392 crore to '4,794 crore during the same period.
Transport minister P. Mahender Reddy said, “The corporation has been seeking a hike in bus fares for the past one year. However, the losses mounting to record levels during the last one year is a major cause for concern. The issue has been brought to the notice of the Chief Minister, who will take a final call on how to rescue the corporation from the crisis.”
While the APSRTC has hiked the bus fares by 10 per cent in October 2015, the TS government has kept the issue pending.
