• For managing a fleet of 800 odd buses of the Madhya Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (MPSRTC), 11,000 employees are on the rolls. In effect, a little over a dozen staffers are catering to the services of a single bus which has a load factor of less than a dozen passengers. • Almost half of the fleet is not in a running condition and lakhs go towards the maintenance cost • The MPSTRC has a debt trap of Rs 800 crore and is suffering a monthly loss of over Rs 5 crore. • For every kilometre of operation, the transport corporation is suffering a loss of Rs 8,500. When Chief Minister Babulal Gaur made a formal announcement for closure of the ailing MPSRTC within two months at Gwalior recently, dissenting voices from the 11,000 workforce was something which he would have anticipated.But for a state which has been reeling under financial mismanagement since several years, these voices seemed inaudible considering the imperative need for cracking the whip on financially ailing bodies.Interestingly, Gaur clearly went even against the party line on the issue, since it was the BJP which in its election manifesto had promised to revive the corporation rather than close it down. By any standards it was a bold move considering that the proposal to restructure the corporation had been in the pipeline since the Digvijay Singh government. But fearing political repercussions, pure economics had taken a backstage.With an accumulated loss of 800 crores and mounting, the corporation was becoming a headache for the Finance Department. ‘‘There were no chances of reviving it. The closure and formation of a small company instead is a more feasible option,’’ says Transport Minister, Uma Shankar Gupta.Soon after the closure announcement, Gaur faced resistance not only from the employees but political parties as well. The Congress questioned the decision flashing the BJPs election manifesto. Even BJP leader and chairman of the corporation, Raju Phulwani, has objected to the move. ‘The HDFC had okayed our proposal to provide 500 new buses. A little support could have revived the corporation,’’ said Phulwani. But economists disagree. ‘‘The corporation was being run as a typical government organisation where accountability was missing. What is the guarantee that even after pumping in some money, the state of affairs will improve,’’ asked former HoD of the Economy Department at Barkatullah University, O S Shrivastava.After initial protest from the employees, a section of the employees has in fact started agreeing with the government line claiming that the decision was in the interest of the employees who have not been receiving their salaries for months. ‘‘Instead of remaining salary less for months, isn’t it better that a decent VRS is accepted,’’ remarked an employee.But the government seems unfazed. ‘‘We have assured the employees that their interest will be safeguarded while formulating a VRS package,’’ said Gupta. According to officials in the finance dept, the government will soon finalise a report on the winding up process and seek financial assistance from the Centre for doling out a satisfactory VRS for its employees and formation of a company which will run buses on routes where private operators stay away.
