HRTC’s losses are huge under Congress rule, Congress, not BJP, is responsible: Jamwal
BJP State Chief Spokesperson and MLA Rakesh Jamwal said that the Congress Chief Minister is constantly making baseless comments about the BJP. He is making such comments merely to divert public attention, and it is beyond the fact that the problems facing the HRTC and Tourism Corporation are due to the BJP. We would like to remind the Chief Minister that it has been three years since the Congress government came to power, and none of the promises it made to come to power have been fulfilled. Perhaps if the Chief Minister had been concerned about the HRTC and Tourism Corporation, this problem would not have arisen today.
The Himachal Road Transport Corporation, the state’s second-largest public sector undertaking, is operating at a loss. The government has repeatedly increased fares to cover these losses, but government grants and losses continue to rise. Despite burdening the public’s pockets, the government has been unable to do anything. Each fare increase was justified by inflation and losses, but the reality is that instead of decreasing, the losses have only increased. The corporation’s losses in 2023-24 were ₹2,119 crore, which is projected to reach ₹2,200 crore in 2024-25. Currently, the HRTC has 3,196 buses operating on 3,871 routes. Minimum fare increased, per-km fare remains unchanged: On February 23, on the recommendation of the HRTC Board of Directors, the proposal to increase the minimum fare by ₹10 was placed before the cabinet.
