Vijayawada: RTC employees urged to improve revenue

Vijayawada: The Road Transport Corporation (RTC) has lost sizable revenue due to the discontinuation of bus services from March 22 to May 20, stated vice-chairman and managing director of RTC and principal secretary MT Krishna Babu.

While addressing the executive directors of all zones and regional managers through video conference on Tuesday, the managing director said that the staff should strive to improve the revenue. The RTC officials were instructed to rearrange the seats in the buses as per the new guidelines. They should plan accordingly to increase the number of bus services as per the demand.

Referring to the Covid-affected RTC staff, he said that about 4,500 employees were affected by the coronavirus and 72 have died. In case of new cases were found among the employees, they should be given proper treatment facilities.The services of the employees should be utilised on rotation basis as only 30 to 40 per cent buses are being plied.

The MD said "It has been decided to provide Rs 5 lakh to the families of the deceased staff by donating one-day basic pay of the employees. The programme will be implemented soon through transport minister Perni Venkatramaiah".

Security deposits of the shopkeepers in the bus stations should be returned and the shop rent from March 22 to June 7 should be waived. The MD said "The services of the private persons could be utilised to run the cargo services to improve the revenue". He set the target of Rs 200 crore through cargo during the financial year of 2020-21.

The revenue earned during August and September was enough to cover the diesel expenses. Since the RTC had to repay Rs 70 crore loan amount to the banks from October onwards, the staff was instructed to run the buses up to 30 lakh kilometres per day with an occupancy rate of 60 per cent earning at least Rs 250 crore per month.