Shimla, March 12
Mr G.S. Bali, Transport Minister, today hinted at a imminent bus fare hike, but remained non-committal about the quantum of increase.
Addressing a press conference here, he said the State Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) had been left in a deep financial mess by the Dhumal government which had not revised bus fares since 1999 despite steep hikes in the prices of diesel, tyres and spare parts and salaries over the period. The corporation was suffering a loss of Rs 7 crore every month and its accumulated losses were Rs 280 crore.
The additional expenditure on account of the hike in diesel prices and salaries came to Rs 36 crore annually. Besides, the corporation was providing concessional and free travel facilities to many categories of commuters which was adding to the loss. He said the government would rationalise the concessional travel facility and make those who could afford to pay.
He announced that the corporation would withdraw the buses deployed by it for transporting students of private schools from April 1. He said in Shimla alone as many as 60 buses had been deployed for the purpose. The corporation was losing Rs 4 crore annually on this account. The situation could be remedied only by increasing the bus fare which was overdue.
Mr Bali said the corporation also proposed to sell its buses to unemployed youth on market value to reduce losses. It had a fleet of 1735 buses and it was operating 2368 services on 1749 routes. After the sale, the buyer would continue to ply buses on the routes and pay back the cost of the bus to the corporation in instalments.
He said to increase the revenue, the corporation would give the contract to some reputed company for display of advertisements on buses by inviting tenders.
Mr Bali said while the existing bus stands would be given a facelift, new ones would be constructed at Kangra, Tuti Kandi (Shimla), Rajgarh, Mandi, McLeodganj and Chamunda. Besides, the bus stands at Bilaspur, Sundernagar and Una, which lacked modern facilities, would be remodelled.
