Savadi: RTCs ready to start night service on passengers' demand

Transport and Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi has clarified that the state government has decided against any hike in bus fares in spite of ‘compulsion’.

Speaking to media persons after chairing a meeting of North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) officials at its headquarters office, he said the four state-owned transport corporations have sustained an accumulative loss of Rs 1,700 crore during the lockdown period. The spread of coronavirus will decide the extent of revenue loss for the transport corporations in the coming days, as maintaining social distancing would mean that buses cannot run to full capacity.

“The government doesn't want to rub salt on the injuries by hiking the bus fare," he said.

Savadi said clear instructions have been given to corporations not to run buses which result in more losses. “At present, more trips means more losses,” he said.

Currently, all four regional transport corporations (RTCs) are running buses between 7 am to 7 pm. However, few of the long-route buses are running extra hours also, he said.

He said depending upon the passengers' demand the transport corporations are ready to start the night journey. The government is waiting for the new guidelines from the Union government which are expected by June 1 for improving better connectivity, he added.

'No job cut'

The deputy chief minister also clarified that none of the permanent staffed of the transport corporations will be sacked. Only those contract employees in BMTC and KSRTC (Bengaluru division) may face the axe, he said and added that all the 1.30 lakh employees of the four transport corporations have received April month’s full salary (Rs 326 crore). However, the government has released 50% of May salary and said he would speak to the chief minister to increase its share to ensure that staff gets their dues.

He said managements of all the four corporations will be asked to prepare a blueprint for three months on how to review the public transportation and increase its revenue. One of the proposals being put forward is by minimising the ‘overtime’ of staff and preventing pilferage of resources. “Corruption runs from top to bottom in Transportation department and efforts will be made to end that,” he claimed.