Date:25/01/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/01/25/stories/2006012522450400.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

RTC to focus on improving mileage, occupancy ratio to gain profit

Staff Reporter

Transport Minister gives away Best HSD KMPL Driver Awards

JUST REWARD: An APSRTC driver receiving the `Best High Speed Diesel KMPL' award from Minister for Transport Kanna Lakshminarayana in Hyderabad on Tuesday. — Photo: P. V. Sivakumar

HYDERABAD: Improving mileage and occupancy ratio (OR) is the only way for the world's largest passenger fleet owner to get back on the road to recovery from debt to profits, said Transport Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana.

He was speaking after giving away the Best HSD KMPL Driver Awards at a function organised by APSRTC and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPC) here on Tuesday.

Compliments corporation

Mr. Lakshminarayana expressed happiness that the APSRTC was a model for other transport undertakings to follow in mileage, getting an average of 5.26 kilometres per litre of high-speed diesel. While oil conservation did have its advantages, what would help immediately was improving OR, he added.

Vice-Chairman and Managing Director M.V. Krishna Rao recalled that in 2003-04 the APSRTC had an average KMPL of 5.37 km, adding "We need to get back to 5.37 and touch the breakeven of 69 per cent OR". He said 10 years ago cost incurred on fuel by the APSRTC was 18.23 per cent of total operational costs, against 37 per cent today.

Among those who got the Best Driver award for both 2003-04 and 2004-05 were K.A. Raju, P. Venkateswarlu, T. Sowri and A.B. Pathi.