The Hindu : Special police for KSRTC planned

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 18, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Special police for KSRTC planned

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM JUNE 17. The setting up of a special police force for the KSRTC is under the Government's consideration, the Transport Minister, K. B. Ganesh Kumar, told the Assembly today.

Replying to questions from members, he said the need for such a force had risen as the KSRTC was being falsely implicated in a lot of accident cases so that damages could be claimed. Discussions had been held with the Chief Minister in this regard, the Minister added.

As per the orders of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunals, the KSRTC had to pay up Rs.10.81 crores towards accident claims at present. The delay in payment was due to lack of funds and the money could not be raised from bus collections.

In order to avoid losses due to interest payment, Rs. 8 crores had been raised as loan from financial institutions for holding adalats in Thiruvananthapuram and Neyyattinkara. The Corporation could save up to Rs. 42 lakhs by holding such adalats.

The Minister said a training centre for drivers was being set up at Parassala with Central assistance. The drivers of the Corporation would be made accountable for violation of traffic rules.

The insurance companies were shying away from providing insurance cover for KSRTC buses, the Minister said. While the new buses being added to the fleet had insurance cover, as much as Rs. 90 lakhs more would have to be paid towards premium if the entire fleet was to be insured.

Buses to be rented

Mr.Ganesh Kumar said the KSRTC proposed to rent 10 luxury buses and tenders had been received in this connection. The experiment had been tried out successfully in other States, hence the decision.

As many as 65 new chassis had been purchased at a total cost of Rs. 3.64 crores after the UDF Government took over. At present, the KSRTC had 4,389 buses in its fleet and operated 3,649 schedules. About Rs. 4,392 was required to operate each bus.

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