Amid protests by the opposition parties against the hike in diesel cess imposed by the AP State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC), the corporation management has defended the move citing recent hike in the price of diesel.
In a statement on Saturday, corporation’s Executive Director (Operations) K.S. Brahmananda Reddy said due to the hike in the price of diesel, the APSRTC was left with no choice but to increase the cess on diesel, which resulted in marginal hike in ticket rates.
He said the corporation had taken care to ensure that the common man was not overburdened by the move, and appealed to the public to understand and extend their cooperation.
He said even in the wake of serious financial constraints faced by the corporation, which had made the maintenance of buses an uphill task, APSRTC had not increased the bus fare keeping in mind the welfare of the public.
“The recent cess hike is inevitable. The marginal increase in the diesel cess effected in April this year was expected to bring a daily revenue of ₹2 crore, but we are able to earn a revenue of only ₹1.5 crore,” he said.
The cost of diesel per litre had increased from ₹66.56 in 2019 to ₹99.06 as on July 1, in addition to the increase in the bulk rate of the fuel to ₹134.79 in July, 2022. He said there was nearly a 100 % hike in the rates of 2015, and now to offset its impact, the corporation effected a marginal hike in the diesel cess.
Drawing comparison between the rates of the APSRTC bus charges and that of the neighbouring Telangana, he said the fares collected by Andhra Pradesh were still lesser than in Telangana.
