It was less than a month ago that the YSR Congress government in AP had increased the power charges. Though the government claimed that it was a compulsion, the opposition TDP could not go hard against the hike as the TDP had its own reasons. But the impact of the new electricity charges would be felt by the consumers once the billing starts in May for April.

Even as the Left and the Congress parties are holding protests against the electricity charges hike in the state, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government has affected another increase. This time it was the APSRTC fare. The government claimed that the increase of the fare was due to the increasing price of diesel.

The APSRTC is in losses and was merged with the government by the Jagan Mohan Reddy regime. In fact, the merger was one of the election promises of Jagan Mohan Reddy in 2019. After coming to power, the chief minister formed a committee to study the proposal and make recommendations. Based on those recommendations, the chief minister took the decision to merge the RTC with the government and extended all benefits to the RTC employees.

APSRTC managing director Dwaraka Tirumala Rao told media persons that the increase of bus fare was a compulsion. He said that the RTC had incurred heavy losses due to the lockdown and the Covid 19 pandemic for the past two years. It could not operate the services, while it had to pay the salaries and meet maintenance expenses.

In addition to the pandemic hit, the increasing diesel prices have also put a burden on the organisation, the MD said. The diesel prices have increased over 60 per cent. All this had forced the APSRTC to impose Rs 2 cess on every ticket commencing from April 14, the managing director said.