Nashik : The diesel price hike has also hit the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, with an average loss of Rs 1 crore per day. It hiked the freight rates recently as the fuel price hike was hitting its finances.
Currently, fuel prices have skyrocketed. The MSRTC is also affected by the fuel price hike. As 18,000 ST buses were running in January 2020, the Corporation was consuming 12 lakh litres of diesel per day.
At that time, the price of diesel was Rs 66 per litre. In January 2021, MSRTC is requiring 9 lakh litres of diesel per day. However, the prices of diesel have gone up to Rs 77 per litre. On the other hand, due to the number of passengers is low, only 14,000 ST buses are running. Therefore, compared to previous years, this year MSRTC has to bear an average loss of one crore rupees per day.
The hike has cost MSRTC an additional Rs 30 crore in January. Due to the reduction in the number of passengers, the Corporation is earning less revenue from passenger transport. Before the lockdown, there were 65 lakh passengers daily. It was earning Rs 21 to 22 crore per day. Now it has 27 lakh passengers and is earning Rs 15 to 16 crore.
The income is further affected by the rise in fuel prices. Therefore, a few days ago, the Corporation had decided to increase the freight rates by four rupees per kilometre and implemented a new rate hike from January 11.