Reiterating that the State government would not privatise the TSRTC, Minister for Finance and Civil Supplies Eatala Rajender called upon people to take RTC buses for safe travel.
Speaking after launching the work on RTC bus complex along with Transport Minister P. Mahender Reddy and others in the town on Sunday, he said the TSRTC was an affordable mode of transport for all sections, especially the poor, and thus it would not be privatised at any cost. On the occasion, he asked the general public to travel in RTC buses to help it run in profit.
Stating that all measures would be taken to protect the RTC, he said the State government decided to modernise all the existing RTC bus complexes on the lines of a corporate office at a cost of ₹14 crore in the erstwhile Karimnagar district. Instructing the authorities to complete the work in six months, he said the government was making all efforts to bring back the past glory of RTC buses in the State.
The Transport Minister said the RTC was running in loss, but the government continued running the corporation to provide transportation facility to the poor. Every day, about 90 lakh people travel in RTC buses. The corporation earns ₹10 crore a day, but the total expenditure was ₹11 crore per day, he said and added that the Palle Velugu and city buses were incurring loss to the tune of ₹500 crore per annum. He said they had taken up modernisation of the RTC bus complex at Imlibun at a cost of ₹13 crore and at JBS for ₹8 crore. He also promised to operate mini Vajra buses from Karimnagar to Hyderabad.
TSRTC Chairman S. Satyanarayana said the corporation was incurring loss owing to poor occupancy ratio and called upon the commuters to travel in RTC buses, both for their safety and help run the corporation in profit.
Karimnagar legislator Gangula Kamalakar, ZP Chairperson Tula Uma, Manakondur legislator Rasamayi Balakishan, RTC MD Ramana Rao, Collector Sarfaraz Ahmad, Regional Manager Chandrashekhar and others were also present.
Earlier, the Ministers and other officials planted saplings on the premises of RTA office at Thimmapur on the outskirts of Karimnagar.