Nashik Municipal Corporation's city bus service, Citilinc, has reported a staggering loss of ₹80 crore in the financial year 2023-24. While the recent municipal budget allocated ₹70 crore for the city bus service, the Nashik Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (NMPML) is demanding an additional ₹8 crore to cover the shortfall.
The administrator and municipal commissioner have assured to make additional provisions in the revised budget to address this issue. However, concerns are being raised regarding the measures being taken by the Municipal Corporation and NMPML to mitigate the losses.
Citilinc city bus service was initiated in July 2021 through NMPML and has received a positive response from passengers. Despite this, the service has incurred significant losses, increasing from ₹70 crore in the first year to ₹80 crore in the following years.
Questions raised on concrete steps to increase income
During a review meeting chaired by Ashok Karanjkar, President of Nashik Metropolitan Transport Corporation, and Municipal Commissioner, questions were raised about concrete steps to increase income to offset the losses. The lack of action by the Board of Directors and officers to boost Citilinc's revenue has led to an annual loss increase.
The Board of Directors proposed allocating ₹78 crore in the budget for the financial year 2024-25 to sustain the Citilinc bus service. Despite the Nashik Municipal Corporation budgeting ₹70 crore for Citilinc, an additional provision of Rs. 8 crore has been requested, with assurances from the revised budget to meet this demand.
