Fallout of fuel hike, lockdown: Bus fare, power tariff may go up in Telangana

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao held a meeting with TSRTC officials and Genco officials where the discussion of the price hike proposal was put forward on Tuesday.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao regretted that the TSRTC has once again started incurring losses due to an increase in fuel prices. The CM said that two years back strong measures were initiated to put RTC back on track. He said when things were looking good, the corona pandemic and increase in petrol and diesel poured cold water over the plans.

The officials informed the CM that since diesel price increased by Rs 22 per liter in the last one and half years, RTC had to bear an additional loss of Rs 550 Crore. They said along with the increased diesel and petrol prices, the increase in the prices of tyres, tubes, and other spare parts were also pushing RTC into losses. All these increased costs are putting Rs 600 crore additional burden on the Corporation, they said.

The officials said the pandemic lockdown had resulted in the RTC losing Rs 3000 Crore revenue. In the Hyderabad zone alone, the losses were about Rs 90 Crore per month, the officials said. They said 97 depots across the state were also running into losses. In these troubled times, there was no option but to increase the bus ticket rates. In this context, the Ministers and RTC officials have explained to the CM the need to increase the bus fares.

They said in March 2020, the government had told the Legislative Assembly that the RTC bus fares would be increased but it did not implement it due to the pandemic. Officials made it clear that a hike in bus fares was the only option for the RTC to overcome the financial crisis.

They said besides increasing the bus fares, alternative sources of revenue have also to be explored. The CM said that the government would take all the required measures to support the RTC and asked the officials concerned to come out with a report with proposals to the next Cabinet. He said the proposals would be discussed in the Cabinet and a decision would be taken.

KCR also held a discussion with Energy Minister Jagadeesh Reddy and Genco, Transco CMD Prabhakar Rao on the issue of electricity in the state. Like all other sectors, the electricity sector too is incurring heavy losses due to the pandemic.

They said that the electricity charges have not been increased for the past six years and there was no option left but to increase them now to put the power sector back on track. The CM said, proposals for the Electricity department would also be discussed in the next Cabinet and a decision would be taken. The CM instructed the Transport and Energy Ministers to come with proposals to the next Cabinet.