KSRTC crisis: daily collection drops by Rs 1 crore

Thiruvanthapuram: The daily collection of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has registered a sharp fall from Rs 5.5 crore to Rs 4.5 crore after the public transporter was forced to cancel many services following insufficient funds to purchase diesel.

Though the Finance department allocated Rs 20 crore to help the corporation tide over the crisis, the latter is yet to receive the money due to delay in completing the official procedures. The services can be restored in full only on receipt of the fund.

The corporation continues to reel under the diesel shortage crisis. A direction was issued from the corporation higher-ups that only those services enjoying a collection of Rs 35 per kilometre need to be operated.

This resulted in many cancellations in rural services, as most record low revenue.

Conductors lose seat
Meanwhile, it has been decided not to earmark any seats for conductors in the corporation buses anymore.

The single-seat provision for conductors, introduced during the pandemic period, in buses will be stopped henceforth, and instead, a two-seat row will be set up in its space.

The management didn’t heed the request of women conductors to continue the single-seat provision. Instead, a circular will be soon issued, allowing only women passengers to sit near female conductors.

The measure has been taken, considering the loss incurred in long-haul services due to the single-seat reservation system for conductors.