To help improve public transportation in rural areas, the Road Transport Ministry wants to help procure almost 86,000 buses over the next five years. If this proposal gets a final nod of Finance Ministry and Planning Commission, business worth about Rs 15,000 crore for bus manufacturers such as Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland would be generated during the five year period.

The Ministry’s working group for the next five year plan has proposed to part-finance procurement of almost 51,000 buses to serve rural areas that are not connected by State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs). It also proposes to help fund procurement of another 35,000 buses to replace the over-aged fleet of SRTUs that operate in rural areas.

Out of some 5.93 lakh inhabited villages in India, only about a third (1.83 lakh) are connected by organised State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs). All SRTUs together own 1.47 lakh buses (March 2011), says the Ministry. Some 81 per cent of these buses are engaged in rural and inter-city operations.

The proposal is modelled on the JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) plan of Urban Development Ministry.

CONNECTING NEW VILLAGES:

The Ministry has proposed a scheme to provide bus connectivity to 70,000 new villages through SRTUs. “It is proposed to finance purchase of 50,854 buses with the aim to provide 600buses per one crore of rural population at a cost of Rs. 9,153.72 crore,” the Ministry states in its report. Out of the total fund requirement, the Central Government share will be about 82 per cent (Rs.7584 crore) for all states, with the balance shared by the State Government and SRTUs.

The proposal envisages Central Government funding to the extent of 90 per cent for those rural areas that need a bigger push, while for the remaining areas it envisages 80 per cent funding. The areas chosen for 90 per cent funding include the North East SRTUs (Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Tripura); sensitive zones like Jammu and Kashmir and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The States chosen for 90 per cent grant also include States where public transport is “un-structured”, like Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

REPLACING OVERAGED FLEET:

Pointing out that the SRTUs are unable to generate adequate funds for capital expenditure and replacement of rolling stock, it has also suggested that Central Government should finance replacement of older fleet for rural operations of SRTUs.

“Taking into account all the 54 SRTUs, about 35,000 buses are over-aged as per individual SRTUs scrapping target policy and need to be replaced during the 12{+t}{+h} Five Year amounting to approximately Rs. 6300 crore,” it says, adding that the Central Government share is expected to be Rs 4500 crore.

For replenishing older fleet, total cost could be shared by the Central Government (50 per cent), State Government(30 per cent) and the respective SRTU (20 per cent). However, for hilly and North Eastern Regions and sensitive zones like Jammu and Kashmir and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, the Ministry proposes that a higher Central Government funding of 90 per cent of total cost.

The Working Group has also proposed a slew of fiscal incentives to improve the health of SRTUs and encourage public transportation in the next five year plan.

mamuni@thehindu.co.in

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