TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The loss-making Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited has besieged the Government to double its annual subsidy, while also working on a voluntary retirement scheme, introduction of more urban routes and linking tourist spots in neighbouring States in a bid to ramp up its finances.
The KTC has requested the government to hike its subsidy from Rs 30 crore to Rs 60 crore.
Similarly, to reduce the hefty salary component, KTC is working on Voluntary Retirement Scheme for its drivers and conductors, who have served for over 20 years and presently drawing salaries between Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 per month.
KTC has incurred a loss of around Rs 8 lakh per day, this financial year. The corporation spends almost Rs 6.50 crore on salaries of 1,600 drivers and conductors, who work on shifts on 500 operational buses.
Speaking to Herald, KTC managing director Derrick Pereira Neto said that the corporation was contemplating on several measures to improve the financial situation. He said that as the first step a proposal has been moved to the government with a request to increase the annual subsidy from the existing Rs 30 crore to Rs 60 crore from forthcoming financial year.
Neto said that the present subsidy is not enough to allay the financial situation. “The difference between the expenditure and revenue generation is around Rs 2.51 crore every month,” he said.
VRS is yet another measure to alleviate the situation, Neto said, though it is still in initiation stages and yet to be finalized.
The MD explained that with introduction of VRS, Corporation will be able to cut down the expenditure mainly on the salary which constitutes 80 percent of the total expenditure. “VRS will help the corporation to reduce the financial loss by 60 percent. In place of employees, who have served more than 20 years, we will recruit employees on contract basis with a monthly salary of Rs 12,000-18,000,” he said, adding that the mobility of some drivers has got affected and they continue to draw a salary of Rs 30,000-35,000 by sitting idle.
In another attempt, KTC is planning to introduce more urban routes as well as intra-state routes linking tourism spots in Maharashtra and Karnataka. “With State being very small and competition from private bus operators, the scope of KTC is very limited,” he said.
