CITU condemns TNSTC Villupuram for hiring private buses to meet festival rush

CHENNAI: Members of the CITU-affiliated Tamil Nadu State Transport Employees Federation (TNSTEF) staged protests on Saturday against the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (Villupuram) for operating private buses on a gross cost contract (GCC) basis during Ayudha Pooja holidays and Pournami Grivalam.

As the TNSTC Villupuram justified hiring private buses to meet passenger demand, the union alleged that it causes huge losses to the already debt-ridden corporation. Sources said that TNSTC Villupuram hired private buses from Kilambakkam to Tiruvannamalai during Ayudha Pooja and for Pournami Grivalam to and fro from Tiruvannamalai.

K Arumugha Nainar, general secretary of the CITU-affiliated TNSTEF, said that TNSTC Villupuram operated 25 buses to Tiruvannamalai for Grivalam, paying the private operator Rs 51 per km.

“On average, a transport corporation operation would cost about Rs 60 per km, including the cost of diesel and bus crew salary. Of the expense of Rs 60 per km, the corporation would get a revenue of Rs 30 to 32 per km. We have been demanding the government to pay the difference as a subsidy to the corporation which runs buses for public transportation, but not for profit motive,” he said.

“But the corporation is paying Rs 51 per km to the private bus operator. If the conductor’s wage is taken into account, the expenditure for operating the private bus is Rs 71 per km, which is more than the operation expenditure of the corporation buses. It will only lead to more losses to the transport corporation,” he said. He said that if the government paid the difference between the expenditure and revenue to the transport corporation, it would help improve public transportation.