Sumer Khajuria
As envisaged under Section 23[1] of the Road Transport Act 1950, the State Govt. invested 228.66 crores whereas it secured 542.17 crores including interest free loans from Central Govt. from the date of its incorporation on September 1, 1976 to ending March 2015 apart from the hefty amounts of grants in aid, budgetary support from the State Govt. especially Rs 54.84 crores alone in the year 2004-07, Rs 3.75 crores in 2014-15, 3.75 crores in 2016-17 Rs 6.25 crores in 2017-18, Rs 3.75 crores in 2018-19, loans of Rs 30 crores in 2014-15 likewise Rs 30 crores in 2015-16, 30 crores in 2016-17, Rs 30 crores in 2017-18, Rs 30 crores in 2018-19 from State Govt. alone and fetched amount of Rs 32 crores from the State Govt. as cost of 112 Kanals of land in a single year. The accumulated losses of corporation despite all that has swelled upto 957 crores ending March 2015. Such trend of hefty losses is further unabatedly being swelled mainly according to the observations of the Accountant General J&K in his report so put forth vide No PS U-HQR/2015-16/345-48 dated 29-7-2015, administratively non maintenance of accounts in accordance with the principles of commercial accounting, defficient record of fixed assests indicating its original costs with acquisition lapses in recovery of out standings and suspected financial uncertainities by not confirming the authenticities of balance sheets coupled with laxities and lack of proper check in the administrative affairs of the corporation.
Although the profitable monopolized routes of the Lorry traffic such as Srinagar-Jammu, Leh-Srinagar, Kargil-Srinagar, Interstate Service, Services of Sightseeing, contract services, School Bus Services, Army Contract services, School Bus services; Cargo Services, Mail services, Deployment of buses with Army paramilitary forces and Beacon in case of fleet of about 700 Buses of different categories and classes, deployment of trucks with FCI and CAPD Department, Army and other Govt. department on well comfortable profiting rate are in operation of the J&K SRTC as well as the Commission out of sublet transport service through private sector coupled with other ancillary activities of transport business, especially, hefty amount of commission from private transports by sublet to the tune of Rs 11.70 crore alone in the year 2014-15 are the extra ordinary sources of its income. According to the own admission of the said corporation the operational cost of vehicles worked-out in the year 2007-08 was Rs 25.04 /km against yielding income of Rs 17.63 /km there by perpetuating operational losses of Rs 7.50 /km although the private section transport business even by sublet means flourishing immensely.
In such an alarming fiscal indiscipline in the Public Sector Enterprise of the State with an object of proper monitoring their functioning, the Bureau of Public Enterprises headed by the Chief Secretary of the state was also set up a period back in the year 1988, vide Govt. order No 1241-GD of 1988, so that the working of the state owned Public Enterprises could be reviewed and monitored by holding quarterly meeting there by laying down physical and financial forgets and their follow up action periodically but all that remained a futile exercise without any fructification constructively excepting experience of perpetuating heavy losses. Even the Road Transport Corporation Act 1950 provided for the regular quarterly Board of Directors meetings to which no heed had been taken for the last number of year except to keep the administration of the corporation as well as its accounts in pell mell State without check on the siphoning out its fiscal resources besides the misappropriation of its vehicular fleet of 1200 vehicles even not been able to yield the required turn over with average run of 250 kms run a day apart from shrinking the burden of non operational staff, up-keepment of the vehicular fleet and enhancement of its operational field coupled with weeding out dead woods, especially in leakage of revenue by issuance of mechanical inspection certificates without follow up of requisite set procedure.
The Corporation which infact has sustained losses of , more than 1700 crores till date in case of supporting budgets in grants subsides and waiver of the loans relaxations of kinds as well as the sale proceeds of the fixed assets /are if taken into accounts which till date have remained hidden because of administrative laxities and non maintenance of proper accounts in the desired manner under law. It is further worth to point-out that the manpower so engaged in the corporation is also suspectively involved in private transport business overtly or covertly on which the institution has no control there by the Lorry fleet worth considerable profit yields being surreptitiously put to hefty losses. The workshop infrastructures are also uncontrolled and subjected to laxities in repairs of the vehicles and heavy costs involved unabatedly on purchase of spares and avoidable time consumed in bringing the transport vehicle on roads. In crux the losses of the corporation have gone five to six times to the invested share capital amount. It is one of the exceptional instance of escape route created by the Kashmir centric leaders sitting at the helim of the affairs claiming protection of extra ordinary safe guards under Article 370 of the Indian constitution, otherwise there would have no occasion to withhold through probe into the affairs of J&K SRTC habitual of delayed conduct of proper audit from the comptroller and Auditor General of India’s institution as sine quo none under the Road Transport Corporation Act 1950.
According to the audit report of the corporation it has further came to light that though the chessis of vehicles were purchased well in time from the manufacturer but the built up vehicles after errection of their bodies could not be put to operation involving hundereds of idle days because of the policy of the corporation in making proper decisions on each such matter inviting not only loss of expected revenue yields but also burden of idle establishment expenses, payment of various taxes, cost of depreciations and suspected instances of corrupt means bound to visit on an ordinary course.
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