Road transport: Kolar unit reels under losses

Subsidy of Rs 6 crore by the government is expected to keep the depot afloat

The unit is among nine of  the 69 KSRTC depots that are running up  huge losses. None of its sub divisions are doing well.

While the Kolar unit’s revenue target by the end of November 2009 was Rs 1.68 crore,  it ended up losing Rs 61.33 lakh. The losses were Rs 46.23 during the same period,  the previous year. In just a year, losses have increased by Rs 15 lakh.

Subsidy

Given the situation, the unit managers are hoping that the government will sanction a subsidy of Rs 6 crore by the end of  this financial year to keep the depot afloat.

Sources said the department is doing some brainstorming to find out reasons for the present situation. On Wednesday, Deputy Chief Traffic Manager from the central office paid a surprise visit to Kolar depot to study the situation. Increasing number of autorickshaws and private buses in Manighatta, Vemagal, H Cross, Tekal and Narsapura routes are among the reasons being attributed for the dip in KSRTC revenue.
H C Basavaraju, Senior Manager of the depot said buses from the Kolar depot plied 45,457 km every day.

“Of this, about 2.4 per cent of route has been cancelled, which is still less when compared to the 9 per cent last year. Yet, there are no profits. Rural roads are in a bad state and there are at least 100 punctures a month. Fuel price is also rising. In all, the expenditure for even kilometre is Rs 18.38, while the revenue is only Rs 17.85,” he said.
He added that there were no passengers for some routes and the department was considering cancelling bus services on these routes and providing alternate arrangements. “There are 132 buses and 15,000 students have been issued passes. At least a 100 passes are sold  for the Kolar- Bangalore route and this needs to be increased. A total of 3,002 monthly passes have been issued,” he said.

Bus to Tirupati

Basavaraju added that there is a lot of demand for introducing direct bus services between Kolar and Tirupati. “Bangalore to Tirupati buses ply through the national highway on the outskirts of Kolar at night and do not make a stop at the depot. There have been many complaints regarding this,” he said and added that the department was planning to redress the problem by introducing a direct bus service between Kolar and Tirupati.