Cash-starved Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has decided to make hay while the sun shines. With private buses in the city going on an indefinite strike from Sunday midnight, KSRTC has decided to operate additional trips to ensure that officer goers, students and other commuters are not affected, especially since private institutions, including schools, have not declared a holiday on Monday.
“We have made plans to provide more city services linking major points in the city. Buses will ply from Kaloor to places like Kakkanad, Chottanikkara, Mattancherry and Fort Kochi,” said assistant transport officer C K Radhakrishnan.
According to him, when private buses along with autorickshaws and taxis had called for a dawn-to-dusk strike last Wednesday, KSRTC buses plied more services for commuters. “Though an impression was created that there was a general strike, we found our Thriu-Kochi services much in demand. However, there were only few passengers on long distance buses. So this time, we have decided to focus on city services,” added Radhakrishnan.
Meanwhile, continuing with their statewide crackdown on private buses in the wake of recent road accidents that claimed a number of lives, the Ernakulam regional transport office (RTO) inspected 65 private buses and cancelled fitness certificates of six buses. Speed governors in these buses were either faulty or disconnected. Some of them even didn’t have one.
Eight private bus owners’ associations from the state have decided to go on an indefinite strike from Sunday midnight to oppose MVD’s driveagainst buses that have not installed proper speed governors.
Denying allegations raised by private bus owners that MVD has been singling them out and cancelling their fitness certificates, RTO B J Antony said, “Our focus is on stage carriers.
We have inspected KSRTC buses along with private buses. The chargesheets against KSRTC buses have been forwarded to the national sector RTO (NSRTO), based in Thiruvananthapuram. They will take action against erring state-run buses.”
Source: Times of India
