RTC on route to crisis

 

The permits issued in undivided AP, under which 1,500 buses ply between major cities and towns in both the states. 

 

After bifurcation, there are 360 bus permits under the TSRTC and the rest with APSRTC. The TSTRC says it is losing Rs 2 crore per day due to this.

 

The Centre had constituted the Sheela Bhide Committee to oversee the bifurcation of the APSRTC. However, the committee could not complete the bifurcation during its term which expired last month.

 

Though administrative bifurcation was completed between AP and TS,  APSRTC continues to control all the bus permits since they were issued in undivided AP.

 

The employee associations’ contention is that though bus permits do not fall under the category of assets and liabilities, they need to be bifurcated. There is no point in keeping the issue pending 18 months after bifurcation of AP, the associations say.

 

They say that if the bus permits are bifurcated, it will enable TSRTC set up 6 new depots, which in turn will generate 3,000 jobs.

 

“TSRTC has been losing 550 bus services to major cities and towns in Andhra Pradesh due to delay in bifurcation of bus permits. The loss for TSRTC on account of this has been pegged at Rs 2 crore per day. TSRTC is already facing severe financial crisis and the delay in bus permits is adding to the losses. It’s time the TS government and RTC management act on this immediately and save TRSTRC from collapse,” said P. Damodar, TSRTC employees’ leader.

 

Employees also point out that the TSTRC and APSRTC failed to reach an agreement over inter-state bus services so far, which too was causing huge losses to the TSRTC.