Gujarat elections 2017 | GSRTC losses have surged: Randeep Surjewala

With elections just a few days away, political allegations are flying thick and fast. On Wednesday, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala accused the BJP government in the state of financial mismanagement and corruption in the running of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC).

In 1994, the number of buses under GSRTC was 7,853, and number of trips was 70,442. He alleged that the number of buses fell to 6,943 in 2017, and number of trips declined sharply to 44,700.

"Looking at the growth in population and requirement in the last 22 years, the number of buses and trips made by them should have gone up by 4-5 times. Instead, both the number of buses and trips has declined," Surjewala said, seeking replies from PM Narendra Modi and CM Vijay Rupani.

He claimed that in 1994, when Congress was in power, ST buses were reaching all 18,225 villages, but the number had fallen to 9,000 under the BJP government.

The Congress leader also came down heavily on the state government for huge accumulated losses at GSRTC.

"The cumulative losses of GSRTC were at Rs389 crore from 1960 to 1994-95. Between 1996-97 and 2016-17, the losses are at Rs2,971 crore," he said.

According to the Congress, GSRTC made loss of Rs 401.78 crore in 2016-17, i.e. Rs 1.11 crore per day, and alleged that the services had declined even though the state had paid thousands of crores as subsidy to the Corporation.

Surjewala also alleged irregularities and corruption in construction of five bus stations in the state.