APSRTC Hire Bus Owners’ Association’s seeks subsidy under SC/ST sub-plan

Vehicle owners from SC, ST and OBC sections have urged the government to release the subsidy amount, at least through the SC/ST sub-plan funds, for their vehicles purchased under the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) scheme.

At a press conference in Vijayawada on Thursday (August 7), they alleged gross injustice meted out at them by the previous government, which did not release the subsidies to them from 2020 to 2024. As a result, they were pushed into severe financial distress and were unable to pay their monthly instalments, salaries to drivers and cleaners and meet the vehicle maintenance expenses. Many had to mortgage family gold or take loans against their homes, they said.

Owners of contract buses said the YSRCP government’s reverse tendering policy had hit them hard. They said while assigning their buses to the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC), they were allotted non-profitable routes, leading to a loss of about ₹50,000 per bus every month due to poor mileage. Moreover, APSRTC used their drivers as on-call drivers, but paid them more than the owners, leading to a shortage of drivers for the owners themselves.

They said as a result, when their buses couldn’t operate, they incurred losses and had to pay penalties for non-operation, which only added to the burden. They said many among them were now unable to run their buses and were in a state of financial collapse and requested that if at least the pending subsidies are released, they would get some relief.

They said the TDP-led NDA government had promised to release the subsidies by May 15, but the commitment had not yet been fulfilled.