Transport Minister Botcha Satyanarayana said that the State Road Transport Corporation had no option but to increase the fare “marginally” for the common people in view of the Rs. 330 crore burden on the RTC due to hike in diesel price.
Addressing media persons here on Monday, Mr. Botcha said that the RTC consumed 56,000 crore litres of diesel per year and for every Rs.1 hike, the burden on RTC would be Rs.67 crore to Rs.70 crore.
The projected loss of the RTC for the current fiscal is expected to be Rs. 800 crore and the hike in fare would off-set the burden to some extent, he said. The accumulated losses were about Rs. 2,682 crore. He explained that the fare hike was only by Rs. 1 for half of 1.3 crore daily bus passengers in the State using ‘Palle Velugu’ services in rural areas and the 25 per cent of total passengers travelled by ordinary services in urban areas. For them too, the hike was mostly by Rs 1. to Rs. 2.
Appealing to parties not to politicise the fare hike, he reminded them that the Congress government had increased the fare only three times since 2004. The opposition party had revised the fare at least half a dozen times during its tenure. Replying to a question, he said the government was considering if it was possible to bring down the VAT on diesel from the present 22.5 per cent.
