North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) has an accumulated loss of ₹ 881.53 crore as on date and every day it was incurring a loss of ₹ 70 lakh, new Chairman of NWKRTC V.S. Patil said here on Monday.
Addressing presspersons after assuming charge here on Monday, Mr. Patil said that efforts would be made to stop pilferage and bring down losses apart from making efforts at the government-level to get pending grants released to the corporation.
Mr. Patil contended that losses of NWKRTC had increased during the last five years and the exemption from paying Motor Vehicle Tax granted to it during the previous BJP government had expired now. “I will take up the issue with Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and try to get exemption again,” he said.
Mr. Patil even said that during the BJP regime earlier in the State, losses of NWKRTC had been brought down, but subsequently losses had increased. He said that no new buses had been given to the corporation in the last five years. However, when presspersons sought specific details on the issue, he admitted that new buses were given. “During Mr. Yediyurappa’s earlier stint as Chief Minister, 3,500 new buses were given to NWKRTC and during 2014-19, 1,500 new buses were given. Of these, 280 were purchased through grants from the Union government,” he said.
On the action plan for 2019-20, Mr. Patil said that there was a plan to add 630 new buses to the fleet owned by the corporation and scrap 500 old buses.
He said that steps would be taken during the current financial year to recruit 2,500 drivers.
“We also plan to construct 14 new bus stations and six new bus depots. This apart, we plan to upgrade 11 bus stations and 10 bus depots,” he said.
On the proposal to create a Hubballi Dharwad Transport Corporation on the lines of BMTC by amalgamating the city division of NWKRTC and the Hubballi-Dharwad Bus Rapid Transit System (HD-BRTS), Mr. Patil said that there was opposition to the proposal from within the transport corporation and it would not be allowed.
On complaints regarding managing director of NWKRTC not being able to focus on the corporation due to the additional charges given to him, Mr. Patil promised to look into the demand for a full-time managing director. Legal advisor to Chief Minister Mohan Limbikai was present.
NWKRTC operates public transport service in the districts of Dharwad, Belagavi, Bagalkot, Gadag, Haveri and Uttar Kannada.
