MUMBAI, June 24 -- Transport minister Pratap Sarnaik on Monday released a white paper on the financial situation of the troubled Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), which provides subsidised public transport, especially in rural areas across the state. The paper showed that MSRTC's accumulated losses for five decades stand at Rs.10,322.32 crore, while dues towards employees' provident fund and gratuity are Rs.3,297.65 crore. MSRTC has sought a grant of Rs.3,600 crore from the state government, with Sarnaik emphasising that reviving the body was impossible without the government's financial assistance. In a review meeting in May, the minister had expressed concern over an estimated loss of Rs.3,191 crore in a deal to acquire 5,150 electric buses on lease, and had asked officials to prepare the white paper on MSRTC's finances. The paper, apart from the losses, also shows that the average per-kilometre expenditure of MSRTC is Rs.58.50 against Rs.49.91 of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), which is known for best practices in bus services. The average load of passengers in Maharashtra's state transport (ST) buses is 83.72% per bus against 93% in KSRTC. Sarnaik said that as chairman of MSRTC, his motive behind publishing the white paper was to let the people know the financial situation of the troubled corporation. "As the current fleet of 15,764 buses is insufficient, and all of them will go out of service in the next three years, we need new buses," he said. "We plan to buy 5,000 buses every year for the next five years. But since we do not have funds and also suffer losses every year, the state government needs to give us the money." MSRTC officials said that the average cost of a bus was around Rs.45 lakh, and the state government would need to pay around Rs.2,250 crore every year to buy 5,000 new buses, amounting to Rs.11,250 crore in the next five years. Sarnaik has also asked the government to bail MSRTC out with regard to the Rs.3,191 crore lost in the electric bus deal. The minister said he would pursue the matter of financial assistance for the revival of ST buses, which provide services to around 55 lakh passengers daily. "We also have a scheme to run STs for STs (scheduled tribes) to provide affordable bus services to remote villages and hamlets in tribal areas," he said. "As our bigger buses cannot reach these places due to the narrow roads, we are planning to buy 50 mini buses, which we will run across all the tribal areas in Maharashtra."...