The ongoing non-stop blockade amid frequent hartal calls has drastically reduced the revenue earnings of the state-owned transport company -- Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), an official has said.
As the number of trips as well as passengers has fallen, daily revenue earnings of the corporation have nosedived by about 84 per cent from about Tk 7.5 million to about Tk 1.2 million during the blockade. The situation becomes worse, if there is any hartal programme in addition to the blockade.
The monthly target of the corporation from its fleet of 1,058 buses is generally fixed at about Tk 240 million which the authority fears will not be achieved this month as it could earn only one-fourth of the revenue over 16 days amid countrywide blockade and hartals enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.
"We ply 450 buses out of the total 500 in Dhaka as we do not get passengers. The mobility of people has shrunken as the inter-district bus service is snapped due to the blockade," BRTC chairman Mizanur Rahman told the FE recently.
He said a few of the BRTC buses ply outside Dhaka on demand and sometimes with police protection. This too has to be stopped if there are district-wise hartal programmes, he added.
During normal situation, the monthly income target of BRTC is Tk 240 million and its expense is about Tk 190 million, said the chairman. "More than a half of our revenue comes from the depots located outside Dhaka," he added.
BRTC has 18 depots in 11 districts, out of which eight are located in Dhaka. The total 1,058 buses ply on 286 routes across the country.
Mr Rahman, also an additional secretary, said BRTC cannot ply all its buses in the present political turmoil, especially the inter-district buses.
"On January 21, during the 48-hour hartal in Dhaka and Khulna division amid the continuous blockade, we did not ply any inter-district buses as those have to cross some districts where there was hartal," he said.
A total of six buses of BRTC were torched and about seven buses were vandalised. Out of three fully burnt buses one can be repaired while the partially burnt three buses are reparable, said the BRTC chairman.
The present situation has created a burden on the already problem-hit BRTC to pay the salaries of the staff and officials.
After taking the charge of the corporation in October last year, the new chairman initiated a move to make BRTC operationally sound and financially viable through curbing corruption and enhancing efficiency of its management.
Under the new move, the chairman has already set a target of earning Tk 20 million more per month by checking misappropriation and wastage to reach to his goals.
The organisation is widely criticised for corruption, misappropriation of money and wastage of its income and poor service delivery system.
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