Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s directions to the Greater
Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), over recompensation to the
Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) for suffering losses,
have remained mere words. For, the civic body, struggling to garner
funds for its own projects, has not paid a penny as compensation for the
past two years.

This financial year, upto November, the transport
corporation incurred losses of Rs. 340 crore for its city operations,
which is Rs. 31 crore less than the same accumulated for the
corresponding period last year. This was revealed by Transport Minister
P.Mahender Reddy after a review meeting. Of the losses, Rs. 260 crore
was incurred from 29 depots in the city.

Sources at GHMC said RTC
was compensated only for the first year after the orders came. A total
of Rs. 337 crore, considerably a big amount for the civic body to part
with, were transferred to the TSRTC for 2015-16.

While issuing the
directions, Mr. Rao had drawn comparisons with cities such as New York,
London, Barcelona and Paris, where urban local bodies handled
transportation along with gas, power, and water supply sectors.

However,
during 2016-17, when TSRTC sought to shift the losses incurred on urban
transportation to GHMC, the same was not fulfilled. After a discussion,
the standing committee resolved that it was beyond GHMC’s means to pay
the RTC.

“We wrote to the State government expressing our
inability to compensate RTC. The issue is still unresolved,” informed a
senior official.

The civic body is yet to receive Rs. 400 crore
due to it from the government in the form of transfer duties, grants,
property tax on government buildings and professional tax compensations.
The amount includes about Rs. 170 crore from Finance Commission
allocations last year, after payment of Rs. 100 crore. While Rs. .200
crore worth stamp duties accrued to GHMC during the first quarter, only
Rs. 50 crore has been paid so far.

Of the non-plan grants, only
Rs. 9.33 crore of the first quarter has been paid. Earlier, the GHMC
received non-plan grants on quarterly basis. However, of late, the
amount is being disbursed in instalments, with no specific time
duration, officials said.

This year, it has earned a revenue of
Rs. 380 crore from building permissions up to December, up from last
year’s Rs. 272 crore in the same month. By the year-end, the revenue is
expected to cross Rs. 600 crore. Officials attribute it to speedier
application processing, thanks to online permissions. Road cutting
permissions have garnered Rs. 100 crore.