Karnataka transport bodies seek Rs 250-cr reimbursement under women’s free bus travel scheme

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has incurred a cost of Rs 94 crore, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation Rs 43 crore, the North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation Rs 65 crore and the Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation Rs 47 crore. As many as 10.4 crore beneficiaries availed of the scheme during the period, with a daily average of 52 lakh. The average cost incurred by all the four corporations in a day was over Rs 12 crore.

All the four transport corporations have also sought advance payment of roughly Rs 500 crore for July and August. The monthly cost for the corporations is Rs 250 crore.

“We have submitted our claims for the months of July and August, along with June. Usually the government works on a quarterly basis and seeking compensation for a quarterly period makes it easier for the government to maintain the accounts. While Rs 2,800 crore is set aside for the Shakti scheme, over Rs 600 crore is provided in the budget for induction of new buses. Meanwhile, we will be able to pay salaries to our employees with the traffic revenue generated by the RTCs,” said KSRTC managing director V Anbukumar.

The total number of women passengers who availed of the scheme till July 9 is 16 crore, while the cost incurred by all the corporations is Rs 382 crore.

The state government has not paid the corporations the Rs 4,265 crore that is owed to them over concessions given to various passenger categories between 2000-01 and 2020-21.

An audit report released by the Comptroller and Auditor General in February revealed that the government’s failure to compensate for the concessions had “impacted the financial position of the Corporations, as the accumulated loss of all the four corporations stood at Rs 4,689.09 crore as at 31 March 2021”.

According to data provided by the KSRTC’s chief public relations officer on the eve of the June 11 launch of the Shakti scheme, the overall annual traffic revenue at the end of March 2023 was Rs 8,350 crore. The four corporations registered a combined traffic revenue loss of Rs 4,390 crore owing to concessions and other factors. The loss is also because the government has not allowed them to revise the ticket fares for the last two years, despite the high fuel costs and increasing maintenance costs.

Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy has sought permission from the government to recruit an additional 8,944 employees including drivers, conductors and technicians and for the induction of 4,000 buses across all four road corporations.