Expenditure is up, but number of buses down

Annual expenditure of the state-run Delhi Transport Corporation, which operates the largest CNG fleet in the world, has gone up in the current fiscal by Rs 1,562 crore. The working expenditure of the corporation has reportedly seen a jump of Rs 1,085 crore. The expenditure of the corporation has gone up despite the number of its buses going down from 5,200 to 4,300.

Figures accessed by this newspaper show that the total expenditure of the DTC has gone up from Rs 5,101.33 crore to Rs 6,663.03 crore this year. The expenditure includes the working loss of the corporation, which has reportedly also gone up from Rs 1,019.36 crore to Rs 2,194.38 crore this fiscal.

The increase in the working loss of the corporation is primarily being attributed to the provision of Rs 1,024.83 crore the corporation had made on account of pensions and other retirement benefits of its employees. The government had spent Rs 177.24 crore on monthly pensions and Rs 847.59 crore as contribution of the DTC in respect of pension optees who are to retire after May 31. As far as salaries of its employees is concerned, the DTC has spent Rs 2,367.99 crore compared to Rs 1,329.55 crore it had spent previous year.

In all, the DTC is said to have recorded a revenue loss to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore in the last decade. The losses incurred by the DTC in the fiscal year 2002-2003 were Rs 792.02 crore, which surged to Rs 2,914 crore in 2012-2013.

The corporation reportedly spends the most of its funds in paying interest to the government annually. Since 1996, the DTC has been getting loans from the Delhi government to support its daily expenditure. In the fiscal 2012-2013, the interest it paid to the government was Rs 2,039 crore, while the DTC’s earnings stood at Rs 1,324 crore only. In 2014-15, the corporation ended up paying an interest of Rs 2,803 crore. The interest amount has gone up to Rs 3,277.14 crore this fiscal.

Experts have accorded the trend in surmounting losses in the DTC’s balance sheet to mismanagement and poor debt management, which has bled the state-run bus operator dry. A senior officer said that non-implementation of scientific planning of routes, coupled with operating old standard floor buses have also contributed to the escalating losses.