FREE TRAVEL POLICY BLEEDING HRY ROADWAYS
Says ₹676 cr loss to staterun buses in the last financial year is due to this policy
Haryana transport minister Krishan Lal Panwar on Monday took refuge behind free travelling facility being given to 40-odd categories as the key reason behind state roadways ₹676 crore losses.
Haryana transport minister Krishan Lal Panwar on Monday took refuge behind free travelling facility being given to 40-odd categories as the key reason behind Haryana Roadways suffering ₹676 crore losses during the last financial year.
The stand of the minister, which was not backed by any official data, came as a surprise as the state government gives free travel facility in Haryana Roadways buses to girls studying in schools, colleges and other institutions; freedom fighters; MPs and ex-MPs; MLAs and ex-MLAs; press reporters/accredited journalists; widows of freedom fighters; certain category patients along with one attendant; folk artists who have been given awards; outstanding sportspersons like Arjuna Award winners and Olympians, among others.
Addressing a press conference as part of the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government’s strategy to highlight achievements of its near four-year rule, the transport minister said being a welfare state, it was the duty of the government to exempt different categories from paying the bus fare. The minister said the transport department suffered ₹676 crore deficit last year due to the free travel facility. He repeated that no fare facility was the key reason behind the rising losses.
However, responding to a series of questions, including the basis of his statement that no bus fare facility to 40-odd categories was behind the deficit, the minister ducked the queries and fielded senior officers to deal with the ticklish situation his statement had created.
“This deficit is partly due to free travel facility and there are other host of operational reasons also,” Dhanpat Singh, additional chief secretary (ACS) (transport department) said.
When pressed further, the ACS admitted that there was neither any specific data available about how much loss the department suffers solely on account of free travel facility in the stateowned buses, nor was any study conducted to ascertain the losses due to this facility.
Meanwhile, the minister said that giving free travel facility to the school going girls was his top most achievement as the transport minister.
Haryana Roadways, a state government undertaking, is the principal service provider for passenger transport in the state having fleet of near 4,200 buses.
KILOMETRE SCHEME
Panwar said the state government will implement its contentious policy of hiring 720 private buses under the kilometre scheme despite Haryana Roadways employees’ opposition and their call for ‘chakka jam’ on August 5.
Calling the reservation of the employees against hiring of buses “baseless and unfounded” under what is called a kilometre scheme on the ground that it was a step in the direction of privatisation, the minister said in the first phase, at least 510 buses will hit the roads under this scheme shortly.
The Haryana government and employees of Haryana Roadways Joint Action Committee are at loggerheads over the issue of hiring private buses. Demanding withdrawal of the decision, the roadways employees’ unions have announced to hold ‘chakka jam’ on August 5.
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We will go ahead with our decision (of hiring 720 pvt buses) as we are short of buses. At present, only 12 lakh people travel by our buses everyday even as 33 lakh people need the bus services per day KRISHAN LAL PANWAR, Haryana transport minister
“We will go ahead with our decision as we are short of buses. At present, only 12 lakh people travel by our buses everyday even as 33 lakh people need the bus services per day,” the transport minister said, addressing a news conference.
The minister said the transport department has decided to buy 650 buses — 350 ordinary buses, 150 mini buses, and 150 airconditioned buses.
PROPOSAL TO HIRE VOLVO BUSES
According to Panwar, the state government has decided to hire at least 30 Volvo buses in the next three months under the kilometre scheme. The minister said he cleared the proposal on Monday and sent the file to the chief minister for approval. He admitted that the existing fleet of about 39 buses was near a decade old and that all Volvo buses had crossed over 10 lakh km limit. He said that in the past four years, the government had not hired or bought Volvo buses and that complaints had been pouring in about the existing fleet of Volvo buses.