Monetisation by merger of RTC depots on anvil?

Identification of depots to depend on proximity to arterial roads, dependence on hire buses

The TSRTC hired 57 City Metro Express buses, 328 City Ordinary or Mofussil services buses, 1,710 Pallevelugu buses and 992 Express buses this year till June.

The beleaguered Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), which is grappling with crushing losses, has launched deliberations to identify the ways to increase its revenue.

These include steps to monetise its assets in the form of land parcels it owns across the State. On the anvil is a merger of bus depots.

Sources requesting anonymity said the major factors in the identification of such depots is their proximity to arterial thoroughfares, and the dependence on their hire buses. The larger the number of hire buses at such depots close to each other, the higher are the chances of monetising it.

Fit for experiment

Karimnagar 1 and Karimnagar 2 depots are a fit case for this experiment, they said. “Both depots are in prime locations and have a large number of hire buses. They buses are parked elsewhere, not at the depot. Employees are assigned to these buses and once their duty is done, these buses leave the depot. Once merged, the owned buses can be moved to one depot, freeing up the other to be used for monetisation,” a source explained, even as he clarified that the merger of depots would not affect workers.

“They will be moved from one depot to the other. The idea is that once the merger happens, revenue from the vacant bus depot can be generated by means of entering into build-operate-transfer agreements with good entities. At the moment, no formal proposal has been submitted,” he added.

With hire buses being one of the factors that would decide merging of depots, official data shows that as on June this year, TSRTC across the State hired as many as 57 City Metro Express buses, 328 City Ordinary or Mofussil services buses, 1,710 Pallevelugu buses and 992 Express buses.

Discussions on generating revenue from the land parcel on which TSRTC’s Bus Body-building unit (BBU) stands were also held. These entailed exploring possibilities of moving the BBU to the workshop in Uppal. However, sources said concrete steps are yet to be taken.

Trade union leaders opined that the TSRTC’s land bank includes vacant land parcels, sprawling bus stations, depots, and workshops, among others.

TSRTC Joint Action Committee office-bearer K. Raji Reddy estimated the total land bank to be around 1,400 acres.

It has been a longstanding demand of the joint action committee that the TSRTC remain transparent regarding such deals.

“All TSRTC lands are important, prime lands. We have always been against benami transactions. There should be an open tendering process. Also, such plans should not lead to the reduction of TSRTC workers,” Mr Reddy said.

‘Think of staff welfare’

Another trade union leader pointed out that any monetisation plan that the TSRTC management intends to make, must have the corporation and its employees’ welfare in mind.

“The land beside Bus Bhavan is around 10 acres. Then there are Musheerabad 1, 2, 3 depots and a new vehicle parking yard. These combined run into 35 acres. Any place that has a depot and a bus station means it is a big town. With that, revenue can be generated from almost everywhere. In order to not have a syndicate in bidding, open tenders must be called,” he said.