NEW DELHI: The road transport ministry will provide some financial assistance to state transport departments for carrying out sanitisation of buses run by state transport corporations and bus terminus.The transport ministry will provide little over Rs 50 crore to all the State Transport Undertakings (STUs) for this purpose, sources said.Meanwhile, some states have also sought financial help for running buses under STUs which have been hit hard by the lockdown.In a video conference with Union minister Nitin Gadkari , states including Andhra Pradesh Karnataka , Delhi, Rajasthan and Telangana raised the issue of dwindling financial health of their STUs as they sought assistance. Almost all other states shared the deteriorating income from running buses during the meeting.Officials said STUs are staring at steep revenue fall as no bus will be allowed to carry more than 40-50% of its capacity to maintain social distancing for months after the lockdown is lifted.“Most of the ministers talked about the financial crisis. One state said it may face difficulty in paying salaries to its employees,” said a source.According to the latest official report of 47 STUs, they reported a combined net loss of nearly Rs11,350 crore in 2015-16. Sources said the situation has worse in the past four years.While Gadkari has urged the states to clear bottlenecks for free movement of trucks at inter-state borders, state ministers have suggested the setting up of a central control room in the ministry to deal with transport related issues. Officials one such helpline is already operational at Transport Bhawan.“All the states have committed to support expeditious construction of highways to create employment. They shave aid there should be no glitches in the movement of men and materials for carrying out works. Some states demanded more allocation from Central Road and Infrastructure Fund for building state roads,” said a source.