Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, today exhorted upon the J&K Road Transport Corporation (JKRTC) to enhance supervision over the fleet of vehicles in public service for increasing revenue collection. The Chief Secretary issued these directions while addressing a meeting held to review the working of Transport Department.
The meeting besides Secretary, Transport was attended by MD, JKRTC; Transport Commissioner; Director, State Motor Garages, RTO, Kashmir/Jammu and other concerned officers while outstation officers participated virtually.
Dulloo, while assessing the performance of the Corporation, emphasised upon putting the fleet to optimal use besides taking measures to seal the breaches from which there is possibility of leakage of revenue. He also stressed on putting other assets to use by engaging professional developers for earning recurring income from them.
The Chief Secretary also impressed upon the Corporation office bearers to hold their board meetings for resolution of internal matters and the issues faced by its employees. He enquired about the initiatives taken or in pipeline for improving the overall financial health of the Corporation.
Dulloo, while taking cognizance of huge pendency in delivery of driving licences to applicants, directed the Transport Department to work out a mechanism for speedy delivery of these documents. He asked for sending bulk messages to them for collection of the same, holding camps or sending these to their homes through speed post.
He also took note of the actions taken by the Department against repeated violators of traffic rules. He asked about the number of licences suspended by the Department till date and the initiatives taken by it for streamlining traffic on the roads.
During the meeting, Secretary Transport, Niraj Kumar, provided insights into the overall working of the Department. He apprised of the action taken on different critical issues flagged during earlier meetings.
Regarding working of JKRTC, Managing Director of Corporation, Rakesh Sangral, informed that it has an available fleet of 1055 vehicles with 517 buses and 538 trucks in operation. He also apprised that most of its fleet is new comprising 758 vehicles of about 0-5 years of age.
Regarding financial status of the Corporation, the meeting was informed that the fleet of buses had earned a revenue of Rs 73.16 crore during 2023-24 while the trucks have realized Rs 117.40 crore revenue increasing the total earnings to Rs 190.57 crore which is higher than the previous year.
About the assets of the Corporation, it was revealed that it has land holdings to the tune of 308.20 Kanal at different locations in Kashmir division and 217.82 Kanal in Jammu division. It was added that most of these land chunks are at prime locations in the twin cities of Srinagar and Jammu and have potential to earn good revenue once developed optimally.
Informing about the major initiatives taken by RTC, it was apprised that the insurance cover had been extended to the crew (Drivers/Conductors) operating the fleet. It was given out that the implementation of ITMS & Red Bus Online ticket bookings is now in place in JKRTC.
The meeting was further apprised that the department transported 1,26,674 pilgrims and 9,092 Sadhus during Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra-2023 and earned Rs.644.91 lakhs. It was added that presently there is no liability of loan in JKRTC and the Corporation has also extended several benefits to its retired and in-service employees out of its own resources.
When it comes to reforms to be initiated by the Department, it was enunciated that the Corporation is contemplating to increase trip frequencies of its vehicles besides focusing on profitable interstate routes on National Highway, optimizing fleet strength vis-a-vis business potential, commercial utilization of JKRTC Assets, resumption of contract services with Government organizations, completing the E- ticketing module, installation of CCTV cameras and fuel sensors and implementation of IRASTAY in the UT.