Government urged to bail out loss-making Telangana State Road Transport Corporation

Hyderabad: Experts with knowledge of affairs of public transport corporations have urged the government to give incentives to Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) to tide over losses due to the lockdown situation.

They suggested steps such as decreasing the value-added tax (VAT) on diesel and also reducing diesel prices in wake of the decreasing crude oil prices so as to save the loss-making corporation. They pointed to the relaxations given to individuals, viz., moratorium on loans and incentives for paying taxes etc. Similarly, the government should consider giving some relief to the cash-strapped TSRTC, they felt.

Senior trade union leader and former RTC Board member M Nageswara Rao said that the government should support the transport sector by decreasing the petrol, diesel prices. He said that the crude oil prices in December 2019 were at $65 per barrel and by May 2020 they crashed by 63 per cent to $23. The government should insist on oil companies such as Indian Oil, HPCL and BPCL to decrease the prices and support the transport sector, he said.

The TSRTC has a fleet of 10,400 buses and it consumes diesel worth Rs 1,000 crore every year. The hike in diesel prices directly affects the earnings as the fares are not increased in proportion to the hike in diesel prices. A union leader said that the government takes more taxes from the corporation and gives minimal amount in turn. Citing an example, the leader said that from 2014-15 to 2017-18, the RTC spent Rs 4,437 crore and paid Rs 1,084 crore to the Centre as excise duty and Rs 943 crore to State government in the form of VAT. The government should consider decreasing the VAT on diesel at least during the pandemic to save the corporation, the union leader said.