BENGALURU: The four state-run road transport corporations (RTCs), which are already on their knees, have been hit hard by the steep hike in price of diesel.
Price of high speed diesel, which RTCs use for their fleet, has seen a jump of over 7% between June 1 and June 15 forcing these loss-making transport entities to shed an additional Rs 70 lakh per day on fuel, thereby raising serious concerns about their financial viability. The four RTCs are: Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC), North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC), and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC).
“By hiking diesel price, the Centre has rubbed salt into our wounds. We are struggling to run our full fleet of buses and those we are operating have become unviable. Most are running with half the capacity. We are not even recovering the fuel cost,” said a senior officer in Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC).
The transport corporations, which together had incurred a loss of over Rs 800 crore due to the two-month-long lockdown, are even struggling to pay their employees. In fact, they had to seek financial support from the state government to disburse salaries for April and May, a first in the history of RTCs.
Things are not even looking up for these corporations as fear has gripped commuters in the post-lockdown phase. “Unless people shed this fear, we cannot hope for recovery,” said another senior official.
What is more worrying is that the RTCs’ spending on diesel is expected to go up significantly from July 1 when prices for bulk users will be revised. For bulk users, price revision happens once a fortnight (1st and 16th of every month), unlike daily revision in case of retail users. Since June 15, the retail selling price of diesel has seen a huge jump and bulk selling price too will see a proportionate spike.
“We are expecting our additional spending on diesel to go up by another Rs 20 to Rs 25 lakh per day from July 1,” the officer added. “We are not in a position to seek a bailout package from the state government again since it has already pumped in Rs 700 crore to pay salaries,” he added.
Price of high speed diesel, which RTCs use for their fleet, has seen a jump of over 7% between June 1 and June 15 forcing these loss-making transport entities to shed an additional Rs 70 lakh per day on fuel, thereby raising serious concerns about their financial viability. The four RTCs are: Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC), North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC), and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC).
“By hiking diesel price, the Centre has rubbed salt into our wounds. We are struggling to run our full fleet of buses and those we are operating have become unviable. Most are running with half the capacity. We are not even recovering the fuel cost,” said a senior officer in Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC).
The transport corporations, which together had incurred a loss of over Rs 800 crore due to the two-month-long lockdown, are even struggling to pay their employees. In fact, they had to seek financial support from the state government to disburse salaries for April and May, a first in the history of RTCs.
Things are not even looking up for these corporations as fear has gripped commuters in the post-lockdown phase. “Unless people shed this fear, we cannot hope for recovery,” said another senior official.
What is more worrying is that the RTCs’ spending on diesel is expected to go up significantly from July 1 when prices for bulk users will be revised. For bulk users, price revision happens once a fortnight (1st and 16th of every month), unlike daily revision in case of retail users. Since June 15, the retail selling price of diesel has seen a huge jump and bulk selling price too will see a proportionate spike.
“We are expecting our additional spending on diesel to go up by another Rs 20 to Rs 25 lakh per day from July 1,” the officer added. “We are not in a position to seek a bailout package from the state government again since it has already pumped in Rs 700 crore to pay salaries,” he added.
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