RTC Nets Profit of Rs 126.42 Cr

HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) earned a profit of Rs 126.42 crore during the financial year 2007-08, said transport minister K Lakshminarayana. The profit is largely due to the state government reimbursing concessions offered by the corporation to the public and reduction on motor vehicle tax.

Addressing the media after a review meeting on Thursday, the minister said the occupancy ratio has increased by 70 per cent during 2007-08 as compared to the previous year. The performance of RTC was much better than that of other road transport corporations of states like Maharashtra and Karnataka, he said. Even the earning per kilometre of RTC has improved considerably when compared to that of the last four years. This year too, the state government has decided to release Rs 100 crore as reimbursement of concessions offered by APSRTC.

The government has also given its nod to recruit drivers on contract basis and to fill up vacant posts through direct recruitment in all essential categories. There are about 31 officer posts and 211 supervisory posts lying vacant up to December 2007 while 696 buses have been added to the existing fleet in the last six years. At present, RTC has a fleet of 19,798 buses which includes 11.52 per cent hired buses.

The review meeting, chaired by chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, also decided to go in for ticket issuing machines for express and long-route buses to increase the overall efficiency.

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