Hyderabad, Sep 22 : Telangana Government is likely to increase RTC fare and power tariff soon.

The hike in RTC fare and power tariff proposed by the Ministers and officials will be discussed in the next Cabinet meeting.

The officials from the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) participated in a high-level review meeting held under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on RTC situation at Pragathi Bhavan here on Tuesday night.

The Officials made it clear to Mr Rao that hike in RTC fare was the only option for the Corporation to come out of its financial crisis occurred due to Corona and increase in diesel, petrol and spare parts prices, otherwise the very existence of the Corporation will be in jeopardy.

The officials also said besides increasing the bus fare, alternative sources of revenue have also to be explored.

The Chief Minister said that the government would take all the required measures to support the RTC and asked the officials concerned to come with a report along with proposals.

Mr Rao said the proposals would be discussed in the Cabinet meeting and decisions would be taken.

He regretted that the TSRTC has once again pushed into losses and financial crisis due to increase in the price of petrol and diesel.

The Chief Minister said that two years back, strong measures were initiated to the put the RTC back on tracks from its losses and when it was about to be on the recovery path, Corona pandemic and increase in petrol and diesel have once again pushed the Corporation into losses.

However, he made it clear that the government would take all the required measures to make the RTC stand on its own again.

In the meeting, the Transport Minister, the TSRTC Chairman, Managing Director and other higher officials requested the Mr Rao to help the Corporation to come out of its financial crisis .

The Transport Minister and RTC Officials also said that the Corporation was back into the financial crisis due to lockdown imposed during the Corona pandemic and the Oil Companies increasing the prices of Petrol and diesel.

The officials informed the Chief Minister that since diesel price was increased by Rs 22 per litre in the last one-and-half years, RTC had to bear an additional loss of Rs 550 Crore.

They said along with the increased diesel and petrol prices, the increase in the prices of tyres, tubes and other spare parts of the buses was also pushing RTC into losses.

All these increased costs are putting Rs 600 Crore additional burden on the Corporation, they said.

The officials said with Corona Pandemic impact on one side and the increase in the price of petrol diesel and spare parts on the other have doubled the adverse impact on the RTC financial situation.

In this backdrop, the officials said that the COVID induced lockdown had resulted in the RTC losing Rs 3000 Crore revenue.

In Hyderabad zone alone, the losses were about Rs 90 Crore per month, the officials explained to the Chief Minister.

They said 97 depots across the state were also running in losses.

In these troubled times, there was no option but to increase the Bus ticket rates. In this context, the Minister and RTC officials have explained to Mr Rao the need to increase the bus fare.

They have also reminded the Chief Minister that the government had announced in the Legislative Assembly in March 2020 that the RTC bus fares would be increased but it did not implement the increase.

They were upset that they are forced to come to the government once again seeking the support and help despite the fact the government had already taking measures to strengthen the RTC and for the welfare of its employees.

They said besides increasing the bus fars, alternative sources of revenue have also to be explored.

In this context, the Chief Minister discussed with Energy Minister Jagadeesh Reddy and Genco, Transco CMD Mr Prabhakar Rao on the issue of electricity in the State.

They said that like in all other sectors, the power sector too is in heavy losses due to the Corona pandemic.

They said that the power tariff has not been increased for the past six years and there was no option left but to increase now to put the power sector back on track.

Mr Rao said that along with the RTC proposals, proposals for the Electricity department would also be discussed in the next Cabinet meeting and decisions would be taken.

The Chief Minister instructed the Transport and Energy Ministers to come up with proposals in the next Cabinet meeting.

IT and Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao, Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar, Power Minister Jagdeesh Reddy, RTC Chairman Bajireddy Govardhan , TSRTC MD VC Sajjanar, Special Chief Secretary (Transport) Sunil Sarma, Genco and Transco CMD Devulapalli Prabhakar Rao and others officials participated in the review meeting.(UNI)