Bus & Car Operators Confederation of India – (BOCI) & AP and TS Bus Owners Association of Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, representing private passenger transport operators urged the state government to provide immediate relief to the public transport sector which is on the brink due to lockdown in the wake of Covid19 pandemic The public transport sector has requested the government to consider waiver of taxes, deferment of tax payments, extension of vehicle insurance validity and increase in price/fare on tickets, extending the loan moratorium and Deferment of EMI payments for next 6 to 12months and the Interest component be waived off  for the deferred period to save the business from collapsing.

The Current fleet of vehicles under the Private Passenger Services is approximately 1lakh vehicles in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The lockdown has hit the sector hard with many operators on the verge of bankruptcy. Around 2 lakh direct employees like drivers, attenders, cleaners, office staff etc. and over forty thousand indirect employees including mechanics, painters, dhobis and other semi to unskilled workers are facing job losses. Most of these workers are sole bread winners of their families from low-income strata and are totally dependent on the transport industry.

However, the Governments of Andhra Pradesh & Telangana has asked the private Bus, car & cabs owners to pay the tax for the quarters where the vehicles are under nonuse due to Lockdown. The guidelines of government did not allow operators to carry passengers for public transportation other than essential, emergency or Covid services. The Telangana State cabs and bus operator’s association president Mr. Syed Nizamuddin along with his fellow bus owners brought their problems to the notice of the state Government. There are several petitions also filed in the both states’ High Courts pleading to waive off the Motor vehicle tax for the lockdown period while the vehicles are under Nonuse. The sector has made several representations to the authorities in the transport department, Ministries of state in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to draw their attention to multitudes of issues faced by the sector.

One of the bus operators from Andhra Pradesh with 10 buses pays Rs. 26,46,000/ per quarter-as road tax for both the states and per annum pays around Rs, 1,05,84,000/- . The ask from the government is to waive tax for at least 4 quarters, out of which 2 quarters are completely lost due to lockdown and vehicle nonuse

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