The state government has failed to clear INR 200 crore worth of Pepsu Road Transport Corporation’s (PRTC) dues for running its vote scheme of free trip to women within Punjab.
The PRTC said that despite some recent payment, the dues had been mounting and free ticket was a major component of the expenditure. The cost of an average free trip has climbed since April 1, 2021, when the previous state government started running this scheme.
PRTC’s Punjab fleet has 1,232 buses, including 255 added between January and March in 2022. Of those, 250-odd are kilometre-scheme HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system) buses with paid ticket.
According to Rajasthan Chief Minister, since 2020, more than 86,000 people travelled under the Moksh Kalash Yojana to immerse ashes of their kin. The scheme that allows free bus travel to at most two kin of the deceased for the immersion of ashes was started in 2020 when the Covid pandemic hit the world. The scheme has now been made permanent.
The corporation has decided to add 116 normal and 86 mini buses under the kilometre-scheme, but its drivers and conductors oppose it. On June 21, the management met the employee union and claimed to have redressed their grievances. The Punjab government is supposed to reimburse the transport corporation for the expenses of free travel to women, schoolchildren, and staff such as cops.The carrier has more than 900 ordinary buses, besides 80 mini coaches, while it runs a little more than 200 ordinary buses and few mini ones under the kilometre scheme. It has 40-odd Volvo and HVAC buses under that plan.
PRTC’s additional managing director Charanjot Singh Walia said: “We are adding buses under the kilometre scheme. The government has cleared INR 31 crore of the dues recently, but the payment of INR 200 crore remains pending, which we hope will be cleared soon.”
