Bus fare hike comes as body blow

24 Sep 2012 3:47 AM

The two cool decisions of the Government’s wings, APERC (Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission) and APSRTC, to collect fuel surcharge and increase bus fares respectively, have come as a body blow to the people who have been already reeling under the pressure of ever increasing inflation.

Following the decision of APERC to allow the power utilities to collect a surcharge of Rs.6000 Cr for the financial years 2010-11 and 2011-12 from all types of consumers, the consumers will now have to shed more from their pockets starting from the month of October for consumption of power.

Added to this burden, the APSRTC has increased the bus fares by ten to twelve paisa per km on most of its services to pass on the burden of diesel price hike to the consumers.

Though the diesel price hike amounts to an annual additional burden of Rs.350 Cr on its exchequer, the RTC management has said the diesel hike along with other price increases would additionally cost the organization nearly Rs 734.90 Cr every year.

Though the RTC management chose not to disclose the additional revenue it generates from the hike in bus fares, rough estimates by observers put it at anawesome Rs.900 Cr.