Hyderabad: Spending around Rs 6 crore per day and earning only Rs 3 crore, the TS Road Transport Corporation has incurred a loss of Rs 72 crore in the 26 days of the ongoing workers’ strike.
This information was revealed by TSRTC incharge managing director Sunil Sharma, before the Telangana High Court on Thursday.
Explaining the financial position of the RTC, Mr Sharma placed an affidavit before the court, stating that the TSRTC has been given funds by the state government since 2014. These funds were more than it owed to the Corporation and was done with the “spirit of supporting RTC”.
In spite of the constant support of the government, RTC has been financially stressed because of the high operational costs involved in running the buses, Mr Sharma submitted to the court.
On October 29, 2019, the division bench comprising Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A. Abhishek Reddy had directed that these details should be submitted before it. The bench had asked for details of the reimbursement of amount owed by the government to the corporation and the amount of money owed by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to the RTC.
The court also wanted to know whether the RTC agrees with the position taken by the state government that it has already repaid the reimbursement concession amount, and whether the RTC agrees that it has been paid over and above the amount that is due to the corporation from the state government or not.
Replying to these queries on Thursday, the MD submitted that the reimbursement amount for the financial year 2018-19, of Rs 644.51 crore has been released by the government and the GHMC had released Rs 336.40 crore out of the request to release a total of Rs 1,786.06 crore towards reimbursement of losses incurred by TSRTC in Hyderabad for operation of buses. He also submitted that there was no contract or arrangement between RTC and GHMC to reimburse the amount of the losses incurred for running buses in Hyderabad.
“In view of this, GHMC does not owe any amount to RTC towards reimbursement of losses,” He submitted. The court will hear the case on Friday.
