BengaluruAlready under duress over maintaining an ageing fleet and legacy issues of mismanagement of the available resources, the four road transport corporations (RTC) corporations are now facing a double whammy with the existing Shakti guarantee scheme and the newly announced free bus services for all students– male and female.At a recent meeting with chief minister D K Shivakumar, the transport department suggested that as much as Rs 5,173 crore was pending with the finance department and an additional burden of Rs 1,366 crore for the students’ free bus passes was being incurred.This, even as the number of male passengers– ticket paying passengers– travelling by bus has dropped from a whopping 48 per cent to only 36 per cent.The situation appears grim with transport department officials claiming that there is a significant crisis within the RTCs with financial burden increasing and serious requirement of revamping the four corporations.“The basic crisis has risen from the fact that Shakti scheme has been used to the maximum by the women of the state. However, when compared to the social and economic contributions due to the increased participation of women in the workforce, it is difficult to argue against it,” said a senior transport official.According to the department efforts are being made by way of modernising the bus fleets at the disposal of the RTCs and trying to increase the trips for those routes which have higher demand to accommodate the paying passengers as well.Meanwhile, the pending amount towards the Shakti scheme was also discussed with the CM and finance department, with a fundamental difference between the FD and transport department over the number of passengers travelling under the scheme.Speaking to TOI, ACS (finance) Ritesh Kumar Singh said that the FD had given a recommendation to utilise mobility cards to ensure that there is no duplication of ticketing and claims being raised by the transport department.“This has been fundamentally agreed upon, the cabinet has passed it, and the transport department has already initiated the process of rolling out the mobility cards,” he said.Confirming this, transport department officials said it had already appointed a transaction advisor for the mobility cards to be rolled out and that it is being worked out.Among the other challenges the department has estimated a liability of Rs 6,000 crore which includes provident funds, disel expenses, gratuity, dues of retired employees etc. and an additional Rs 1,271 crore towards payment of salary arrears of the state.Ends
