Telangana: Hikes Bus Fares, Power Tariff

Telangana state government may hike the power charges and RTC bus fares in the next cabinet meeting. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao held a review meeting on the RTC and electricity department on Tuesday. According to a statement released from the chief minister's office late Tuesday, the cabinet is likely to discuss the proposals on the enhancement of power and RTC bus charges. After the formation of Telangana state, the government didn't revise the electricity tariff. Generally, every year in the month of November, the power distribution companies generally submit their aggregate revenue requirement to the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission and the hike will come into effect from the next financial year.

KCR directed the ministers and officials of the Ministry of Transport and Power to formulate comprehensive proposals on increasing power and bus charges. In the review meeting, Ministers KT Rama Rao, Puvvada Ajay Kumar, Jagadish Reddy, RTC Chairman Bajireddy Govardhan, CS Somesh Kumar, Special Secretaries-General for Transport and Finance Sunil Sharma, Ramakrishna Rao, RTC MD Sajjanar, Transco CMD Prabhakar Rao, and others were present.

KCR in the review meeting said that the government would take every step to put RTC back on track. RTC officials told KCR that the state-owned transport body was facing severe financial losses. Due to the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns, there were huge losses in RTC. All the 97 depots in Hyderabad are in losses and the losses increased to Rs. 90 crore a month.