Telangana State Road Transport Corporation Vice Chairman and Managing Director V. C. Sajjanar on Friday said that the transport juggernaut has no intentions of burdening passengers, but with the crushing losses incurred due to buses going off roads, and the fuel price hike, a fare hike is ‘unavoidable’.
In a statement released to the media, Mr. Sajjanar said that the cost of spare parts increased by up to 60% as manufacturers sought to offset rising input cost. This, he said, affected maintenance of TSRTC buses and drove costs up. Another factor behind the increasing manpower cost, Mr. Sajjanar pointed out, are the rising salaries and allowances.
Touching upon rising fuel costs, he said that the price per litre has increased from approximately ₹ 70 to ₹ 94 in about two years.
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“Though painful, the fare hike is the only way out. As a State-owned corporation on average, we serve about 37 lakh passengers each day and many a time the number has reached 1 crore a day. We also operate several buses to remote areas as a social responsibility, irrespective of profit and loss, which everyone is aware of,” the statement reads.
Despite the proposed hike of 25 paise and 30 paise on Ordinary and Express services respectively, TSRTC will continue to to be the cheapest mode of public transport in India, he added.