Incurred losses close to 300 crores in three months, govt planning to hike rates; Malayalis are also likely to be affected

BENGALURU: The Shakti scheme implemented by the Karnataka government has caused huge losses to the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation. The Shakti scheme, which made women from the state eligible to travel for free on non-luxury public transport buses inside Karnataka, was announced by the Siddaramaiah government soon after it came to power in the state. As per recent reports, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) incurred a loss of Rs 295 crore in the last three months. Following this, KSRTC Chairman SR Srinivas advocated a hike in the bus fare in the state to overcome the huge losses.

Another thing is that bus fares have not been hiked in the state for the last 10 years. The proposal before the government is to hike the bus fare by at least 20 per cent. The KSRTC Chairman has informed the government that the corporation cannot move forward without the hike in bus fares and that the losses will further increase in the coming months. The salary of RTC employees in the state has not been revised since 2020. In his proposal to the government, the chairman pointed out that this was causing great financial hardship to the employees.

The Shakti scheme was one of the five major promises made by the Siddaramaiah government, which will complete its first year on June 11, 2024. North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation chairman Raju Kage said that although the corporation has not increased the bus fare for the last 10 years, the situation has become very bad in recent months. The move to increase the bus fares is likely to affect Malayalis as well as a large number of Malayalis are living in Bengaluru and other cities in Karnataka.