Justin D'Silva

Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi

Udupi, Apr 15: The global pandemic COVID-19 has hit businesses hard. The business sector is finding it difficult to sustain amid lockdown. Several sectors of coastal Karnataka are also under pressure to sustain themselves. Private bus operators who are considered to be the lifeline of people of coastal Karnataka. But due to the lockdown, the private bus operators have stopped their services and the owners have to pay many dues without having any earning. Government has ordered that the salaries of employees should be paid on time without any delays. But the private bus owners after discontinuing their services they are finding it difficult to pay for many without any delays.

A single bus is a source of income for more than five families. All these families are now under critical crisis without a constant source of income.

Speaking to Daijiworld, Kuilady Suresh Naik, president, Udupi City Bus Owners Association said, "Transport industry is severely hit than any other sector. Passenger bus services are stopped and if it continues for the next 15 days the industry will perish. Before the lockdown, the passenger occupancy was already quite low. But the bank loan, road tax, insurance and crew salaries cannot be stopped. I request the Karnataka government to declare a package similar to what the Kerala government did."

"In the twin district, more than 3,000 private buses are operating. In Udupi district alone, there are more than 1,500 buses. Even though the services are stopped we are intended to pay a certain amount of money to certain sectors which cannot be held back. Quarterly road tax, yearly insurance and maintenance of buses are the major forms of expenditure. These expenditures are being borne by the owners even if the buses have stopped their service," he added.

"We are experiencing a continuous loss in the bus industry since 4- years without any growth. Increase in the number of private vehicles like cars and two-wheelers is the main reason for this. Diesel rates are also increasing frequently, but bus fares have not increased from many years. For these reasons, no one is keen to continue to work in the transport business. If the operators take a step back, there will be a monopoly and people will be affected by this. The government should release a special package for the sustainability of businesses," Naik said.

The central government has ordered to withhold the loans and EMIs to three months. But in this industry, many operators have taken loans from finance companies and there are a small number of operators who are opting for bank loans. It will be a burden for the operators itself to postpone the loan repayment. As they have to pay the lump sum amount of the loans later. Reportedly, operators used to surrender the road tax when they stopped one of their bus from service. They were allowed to do so. But due to the lockdown, the RTO offices have also discontinued their service and the operators have to pay the next quarter tax without any rebate.

Apart from the city, service and express buses, contract carriage and luxury buses are plying between Mangaluru-Mumbai, Udupi--Bengaluru and many other parts of southern India like Kerala and Hyderabad. But, these services are also stopped and the operators' overdue expenditure has drastically increased. These buses required a huge amount of money during induction. In coastal Karnataka, there are more than 45 operators with a large fleet size operating on these routes. On a normal day, 45 busses ply between Udupi-Bengaluru the number changes to 20 busses between Mangaluru-Mumbai routes.

There are nearly 45-50 operators in the twin districts. All these buses are not in operation for the past 15 days and the operators are finding it hard to meet the expenditures. Buses operating on the longer distance routes discontinued service of providing blankets to the passengers and window screens along with sanitizing the buses daily. This resulted in the hike of maintenance expenditure derived from the owners' pockets.

March to May reap income for the tourist bus operators as many functions are conducted during these months. But due to the lockdown, these tourist bus owners have also suffered a loss.

Kerala government has exempted road tax to bus operators. But none of these measures was been adopted by the Karnataka state government. In the month of June, the operators have to pay the road tax of six months at a once. This turns out to be a burden for the operators when their businesses have stalled.

Some relief for these operators would be if the central and state government declare a package and initiate methods to revise the fares.