 "TN STUs to incur extra Rs 1,000 cr due to duel pricing")
Speaking at the assembly V Senthil Balaji, Transport Minister, said that the state has decided not to increase the bus fare due to the dual pricing declared by oil companies for private vehicles and bulk consumers.
The minister said that additional expenditure for the State Transport Undertakings (STUs), due to the new pricing mechanism, is estimated to be around Rs 1,000 crore, which will be borne by the state, just as it did earlier.
The Minister noted, when the Diesel price was increased by Rs 6 in September 2012, the state government borne the burden on its own and that cost the state exchequer Rs 383 crore. In November 2012, Tamil Nadu government alloted Rs 200 crore for the STUs, which are reeling under the impact of an increase in diesel price.
The Centre's dual pricing for diesel has led to hike of Rs 11 for bulk consumers and 55 paisa for private vehicles.
According to estimate, the STUs buy around 5.4 crore litres of diesel every month.
Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation has a fleet strength of around 28,133 including 20,136 carriages under the state transport undertakings and 7,997 private carriages, as on November 1, 2012.
The Fleet strength was a total of 21,207 in 2011-12, according to data available with the state government. According to the policy note of the department for the year 2012-13, it said that the loss for the year 2011-12 (pre-audit) was Rs 1762.73 crore. Almost 32% of the operational cost was on diesel, according to the note.
MTC revenue up by 17%
The minister said the revenue from Chennai MTC (Metropolitan Transport Corporation) has increased by around 17% to Rs 19.7 crore during the first week of February 2013 as compared to Rs 16.7 crore in first week of February 2012.