The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation that operates about 10,500 buses post its bifurcation from the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh State RTC, consumes an estimated 6 lakh litres of high speed diesel (HSD) to transport slightly-over 90 lakh passengers every day.

While it may initially appear as if the huge buses that occupy more than the road width across the State may be guzzling HSD, it is interesting to note that with some coordination between drivers and the backroom boys who keep the engines, the brakes and the clutch plates particularly, the corporation’s buses manage to get over 5 km per litre (KMPL) of diesel.

A feather on the TSRTC’s cap within a year of bifurcation is that it bagged two prestigious awards among the 60 State Road Transport Undertakings across the country – the highest KMPL award for mofussil services by extracting a record 5.46 KMPL in the category of a fleet strength of 4,001-10,000 buses.

It also got the runner-up award for maximum improvement of fuel efficiency in the same category for 2014-15, up from 5.41 to 5.46 KMPL, said Managing Director G.V. Ramana Rao.

When contacted, Executive Director-Engineering and Secretary to the Board, M. Ravinder said that the fuel bill per day itself works out to approximately Rs. 3 crore a day, including the 24 per cent sales tax that the corporation is forced to pay.

For the past two decades or so, even while it was the erstwhile APSRTC, there has been a consistent demand pending with the Government of India for a reduction in sales tax. Being a part of the Indian Railways, South Central Railway runs its trains by paying only 4 per cent sales tax for the HSD it consumes.

Practically every senior officer repeats this fact, wishing for a windfall every time the price of HSD is increased!

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Suresh Krishnamoorthy / Hyderabad – March 08th, 2016