The Hindu Business Line : APSRTC needs major revamp: Minister

The Cabinet Sub-committee member and the Minister for Commercial Taxes, Mr Konathala Ramakrishna, speaking at a workshop on "Challenges faced by APSRTC and remedies" at Bella Vista Hall in Hyderabad on Sunday. — Mohammed Yousuf

Hyderabad , July 17

THE Andhra Pradesh Commercial Taxes Minister, Mr Konathala Ramakrishna, has stressed on the need for major restructuring of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC).

In the backdrop of negotiations between the APSRTC management, unions and Government that remained inconclusive, the Minister said restructuring would enable the corporation to have a long-term business plan and effectively address all problem areas.

On behalf of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Transport, he was addressing the RTC union representatives, staff, transport associations, consumer groups and civil servants at a daylong workshop organised by the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) here on Sunday.

The Minister said restructuring would help the corporation attain increased occupancy ratio, enhanced workmen support, and diversify operations towards exploring emerging commercial opportunities in the form of advertisements.

APSRTC, with annual revenues of Rs 3,000 crore and expenditure of over Rs 3,400 crore, currently suffers from accumulated losses of around Rs 1,350 crore.

Apart from acknowledging that the corporation had improved its efficiencies on various parameters over the last several years, the Minister also admitted to the role of Government policies to the losses of APSRTC in the form of concessions to passengers belonging to various social segments. The burden of such concessions now stands at around Rs 365 crore per annum.

Mr Bhanumurthy of Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University suggested the incorporation of State Transit Authority, a regulatory body for ensuring level playing field for public and private sector transport players. The regulator should decide the tariff structure, route rationalisation and differential concessional packages to passengers based on income levels.

Admitting that APSRTC has been improving its efficiencies on various parameters over the years, compared to its counterparts in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the Director of Engineering Staff College of India, Dr S. Nagabhushan Rao, suggested relook at the comprehensive performance analysis of APSRTC to find out the exact causes for its losses. He stressed on the need for monitoring and evaluation of route performance, which should be analytical and scientific. The corporation should also adopt benchmarking of its productivity parameters, he said.

The ASCI Director-General, Mr S.K. Rao, said the APSRTC Union was asking for some relief from the Government pertaining to the burden of accumulated losses, apart from pay revision and other staff welfare measures. The Government has agreed to a reduction in motor vehicle taxes and full reimbursement of concessions to passengers.

However, there were some outstanding issues that need to be addressed including takeover of corporation's losses, providing tax concession on diesel and clearing pay scale revision and interim relief.

In search for a solution, he urged all stakeholders to keep in mind seven key principles. They are:

Mass transport such as bus and rail should take priority over private transport such as cars and other smaller vehicles for environment and other reasons.

We need a healthy competitive between the public and private sectors. Both the sectors should have a level playing field. The tax policy should not favour one sector or the other, and should encourage the provision of transport for the rural population.

APSRTC should not be allowed to fail.

The public service motive of the Government should find a place in any agreement. But if the implementation of any concessional or welfare measures are to result in costs to the APSRTC, it should be compensated, based on a formula that is transparent.

The APSRTC should leave no stone unturned in its constant search to become an efficient and profit-making organisation, so that its future is assured.

The APSRTC should aim to build up a corpus fund over a period of five years to help it weather fluctuations in revenue and undertake capital investment.

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APSRTC needs major revamp: Minister