Thiruvananthapuram: There is no end to the woes plaguing the Kerala State Transport Corporation (KSRTC). Plunging revenues, rising expenses, delayed salaries, declining ridership, pesky labour unions and even a thinning fleet of buses are challenges besetting the public transporter for quite a while. Adding to concerns, Rs 640 crore would have to be raised soon to replace the 1,622 old buses that need to be disassembled in accordance with the Central government’s vehicle scrappage policy.
The Finance Department is yet to respond to the Transport Department's plea for Rs 640 crore.
The latter has ordered the KSRTC to scrap the old vehicles.
At present, there are 900 buses that are unserviceable. Of the 1,622 buses that are to be scrapped, 1,000 are ordinary services. When these vehicles are removed for scrapping in April, the regular services will be hit.
The KSRTC operates a total of 4,000-4,200 services. Seven hundred of these buses that operate on long-distance routes have crossed the expiry date.
KIIFB aid too uncertain
The proposals in the past two State Budgets for buying new buses with financial aid from Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) are also facing uncertainty. The proposal was to spend Rs 389 crore in the first year and Rs 455 crore in the second year.
The first loan was meant for converting 400 diesel buses into Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), 1,500 buses into Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and also to buy 50 electric buses. The second proposal for Rs 455 crore was for buying 284 electric buses and to convert 700 buses into CNG. Meanwhile, minor changes were effected in the schemes as new buses were required to operate long-distance services. There was also a proposal to buy diesel buses at a cost of Rs 200 crore. None of these were implemented.
If KIIFB sanctioned the funds, the repayment must begin after two years. The amount repayable on both the loans at an interest rate of 4% would be Rs 7 crore a month for a period of 13 years. The repayment amount for Rs 3,000 crore taken earlier as loan from a consortium of banks is Rs 31 crore a month.
The KSRTC will not be able to repay the amount when it is unable to pay salaries. Considering this crunch, the Transport Department has put forward the demand that if buses are to be bought through KIIFB, then the government must take over the loans.
