As Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar completes three years in office, they sit with Hindu To talk about his vision for the city as compared to public transport, the roadblocks in the way and several initiatives taken by him at the Road Transport Authority (RTA) to reduce red tape and corruption. Interview excerpts:
Q: What is your view on public transport, especially with regard to TSRTC?
In foreign and Indian metros, buses play an important role. It is unfortunate that public transport is a loss-making deal everywhere. So let me take the example of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport, which has cross-subsidy. He has a corpus fund of ₹50,000 crore. We have debt, they have deposits. There was a similar idea and the Chief Minister wanted GHMC to pay ₹500 crore, but he was soon in despair. We suffered a lot in Hyderabad and we are still suffering. We bought diesel three years ago for ₹65. Now it for ₹105. We are procuring 325 buses under FAME-II scheme. We will do better to integrate Metro, MMTS and TSRTC. This should happen when the TSRTC recovers a bit.
Q: When do you think TSRTC will be healthy?
It is too early to say that TSRTC will break even. The deficit was even higher in undivided Andhra Pradesh. Post partition, we found ourselves in a gross loss of ₹1,800 crore. Now, it is around ₹8,000 crore. Strikes, COVID outbreak and hike in fuel prices have made things difficult in 2019. We are slowly working on the depot. MD Sajjanari garu The depot has taken profitability. All the depots were in loss. Now gradually some depots are turning profitable. At least 50% of the depots will show benefits gradually. But, we need a bailout package from the government. CM has given ₹1,500 crore from the budget to meet expenses like salary. Before the strike, we touched a revenue of ₹13 crore to ₹14 crore per day. It came down to ₹3 crore. During COVID, between ₹1 crore to ₹2 crore. Gross revenue of ₹ 7,000 crore was lost.
Q: What is your plan to increase the Occupancy Rate (OR)?
The OR after the strike was around 65%. But, a healthy individual OR would be 70 to 75%. It is OR a tough job as everyone has bought two wheelers in the pandemic. As a minister, I can say that the registration has increased from 30% to 40%. Now we have around 10 million two wheelers!
Question: What are the measures to reduce accidents caused by TSRTC buses? RTI data shows that Rs 151 crore was paid as compensation in the last few years.
TSRTC has an excellent track record in terms of safety. Only one accident in the last eight years, which was major in Kondagattu. Even if it is not the fault of the TSRTC driver, compensation has to be paid if there is loss of limb. Drunk driving is nil in TSRTC. We are a safe corporation and have won national awards.
Question: What will be Telangana’s share in the CESL electric bus tender?
Whatever the Center is doing is discrimination against Telangana. Hundreds of buses were given for Goa alone. Similar is the case with Maharashtra also. I have expressed concern that the Center should be liberal. But there is no communication with CESL issue.
Q: More buses are requisitioned?
Everyone wants new buses and infrastructure. But they do not want to increase the rent. The last fare hike was in 2019. The CM didn’t push us for another hike. Cess is less – ₹1 or ₹2, or rounded off to the nearest multiple. Most states have freed themselves from public transport. UP, which is five times bigger than Telangana, has only 1,000 buses. They have privatized the routes, and these people loot. We don’t want that to happen.
Q: How is the cargo service doing?
excellent. The brainchild of CM, it reached a turnover of ₹100 crore last year, and over 1 lakh parcels were delivered. It has got the confidence of the public.
Q: How would you say what the RTA is doing?
We’ve done a lot. 17 out of 50 services are now online. I have reduced in-person interaction in the RTA office, resulting in reduction in corruption and red tape. The m-wallet that we have introduced involves the absence of physical documents. I would like at least 25 services to be made online. There is a plan to increase the RTA offices.