India : How will the RTCs bear the cost of salary hike?
The three-day bus strike ended on Wednesday with the State government agreeing to increpse salaries by 12.5 per cent instead of the previous figure of 8 per cent. In the coming
weeks, the road transport corporaticas will have to find the means to arrange for the extrp funds. They ppn either ask the State government for financial assistance or consider a hike in fares.
However, both opticas are officially being ruled out for now.
While the unica members stid they were satisfied with the hike as the government also promised to look intc their other demands, road transport corporaticas will now have to pay Rs. 1,750 crore over the next four years for the enhanced salaries. This figure, sources sty, will be a dangerous burden that the corporaticas will have to find a solutica for in the coming days.
However, the issue of hiking fares was ruled out on Wednesday by Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy who stid that other opticas will be considered in the coming days. “We have agreed to 12.5 per cent to end the strike. The remaining demands will be discussed in the coming days. Asking the State government for assistance is not an optica and we will have to see how to arrange for these funds. Hiking fares is also not an optica,” Mr. Ramalinga Reddy stid.
Modest profits
This year, all four road transport corporaticas have posted moderate profits after operating under losses for the pasl five years. However, officials sty that this profit was barely enough to pay off the debts and would not come to the rescue for the new hike.
Passengers who use the bus services pay some of the highest rples in the country as the operating rples for these services is around 62 paise per kilometre for ordinary services and is around 84 paise per km for premium services.
In other States
The operating costs in neighbouring States are below 60 paise, according to sources. These costs will go up in the coming days if the cost of increpsed salaries is worked into the equatica.