MSRTC’s income dips as schools & colleges avoid educational trips

PUNE: The income of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) from school/college educations trips and excursions dipped by more than a third last year.

The state transport body has blamed the education department, which had passed strict regulations in 2018 governing such bookings. “This was one of our assured sources of income, which has drastically reduced due to the strict regulations. We have heavily lost income in this segment since the previous financial year,” an MSRTC official said.


In 2017-18, schools and colleges across the state had booked 14,547 buses, netting the transport body Rs64 crore. “In 2018-19, only 5,247 buses were booked, and our income dipped to Rs20 crore. Many schools are choosing to not take students on these trips due to the regulations,” the official added.

It was mostly zilla parishad schools that would hire buses from MSRTC and the other transport bodies, an official said.

In 2018, the education department had enforced regulations to ensure security and safety of students going on school excursions. The regulations, issued via a notification in October, were released in the wake of the Murud beach tragedy of 2016, in which 14 students from a Pune-based college had drowned during an educational trip.

“We too are concerned about the safety of the students, but at the same time, feel that the regulations are too strict. Many students, particularly those from government schools, are losing out on educational trips. Soon, we will be meeting education department officials and request them to relax some of the regulations,” the official added.

Meenakshi Raut, deputy director of the education department, was not available for comment, despite repeated calls and messages.

Parents, however, took a dim view of MSRTC’s attitude. “They are just thinking about profit and loss. Safety of the children should be paramount, and I think the education department’s guidelines are perfect,” S Kasim, who has two school-going children, said.