The Hindu Business Line : `Unauthorised, hazardous modes of transport'

There are no accurate statistics of unauthorised vehicles plying the nationalised routes in Rajasthan. A not-so-recent tally, however, pegs the numbers at nearly 4,000 video coaches, 800 mini-buses, and 5,000 Jeeps and Jongas. Put together, a total of more than 10,000 private vehicles, compared to less than half that number of the State Road Transport Corporation, says the Planning Commission's Rajasthan Development Report, published by Academic Foundation (www.academicfoundation. com) this year.

"The financial loss incurred by RSRTC due to the illegal operation of these vehicles on nationalised routes is almost equal to the total annual turnover," notes the report. Private vehicles are popular because of the lower fares they charge. "They can afford to do this because their expenditure on staff is very low, they do not have to spend on bus-stands or public facilities, or provide concessional fares," reasons the Report. A flip-side is that private vehicles are `more prone to accidents'. As a public utility, RSRTC has been driven not by profit orientation, even as its establishment cost has been on the ascent. "From Rs 15.5 lakh in 1964-65 to Rs 240 crore in 1999-2000." Recent financials on www.rsrtc.org are also awash in red.

Any increase in fares has to be with the permission of the State Government. "The latest revision was done in December 1997. However, this resulted in a drastic fall in occupancy, with the load factor declining from 74 per cent in 1996-97 to 62.3 per cent in 2000-01," says the Report. It seems a one per cent fall in load factor reduces the revenues of the Corporation by Rs 2.50 lakh per day! The Report lays the blame for the dismal position of the Corporation on `negligence of the Transport Department and the police,' plus `lack of professional approach of the RSRTC itself'. At this rate, the Corporation `may meet the same fate as counterparts in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka,' it cautions.

It calls for a re-look at the views of a committee headed by a member of Rajasthan State Planning Board, which had reviewed the working of all State-owned corporations a few years ago. The committee had suggested `dividing the nationalised routes in Rajasthan into three or four zones' so that high-density routes can cross-subsidise the low-density ones.

The Report wraps with the recommendation that the Government consider `privatisation of the transport sector through corporate and cooperative bodies'. This can help `curb unauthorised and hazardous modes of transport' and `improve the availability and quality of transport facilities in the State,' hopes the Report.