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The downslide continues despite the state government’s efforts to infuse life into it with subsidies.
An internal audit of the CSTC has revealed that it had accumulated a net loss of Rs 139.98 crore in 2005-06. The revenue generated could hardly recover even a fraction of the employees’ cost during 2003-04 to 2005-06. CSTC Managing Director D Sahu said: “I will not be able to say anything because I had joined only four-five months ago.”
In 2005-06, the government poured in subsidies worth Rs 106.51 crore in CSTC, nearly 56 per cent of the total expenditure. But it could not make up for the widening expenditure-revenue gap, the report stated. In the previous year too, the state government had infused Rs 75.98 crore subsidy into the ailing CSTC.
The audit highlights how CSTC has become a burden on the public exchequer and runs up huge costs of operation. First, the CSTC has to cough up Rs 34.55 for every effective kilometre run of the bus. The utilisation of its fleet has declined over the years. Only 659 vehicles out of the 1,144 owned by the CSTC hit the road in 2005-06. The scenario was slightly better in the previous year in which 707 vehicles (out of 1114) had hit the road.
Of the total expenses, staff cost accounts for about 61.35 per cent of the total operation cost. Fuel cost comes to about 26.58 per cent. Moreover, details of obsolete and unusable stores lying with different depots were not furnished for the audit. There is also no assessment of the career advancement schemes (CAS) launched for CSTC employees.
Other discrepancies were also noted in the audit. Eight double-decker diesel buses had been loaned to the South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC) during 1987-1988. The terms and conditions of loan have not yet been fixed. The management had claimed that the buses were handed free of cost to SBSTC with the approval of the CSTC Board.
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