Thiruvananthapuram: The Transport Department has decided to divide the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) into three independent corporations in a bid to make the services more efficient, profitable, and reliable.
As per the trifurcation plan to be implemented in June, four or five districts will form the jurisdictional area of each corporation with each of them getting a new name. The state has altogether 14 districts.
The administrative responsibilities of the three corporations will be entrusted to Kerala Administrative Service (KAS) officers who will join the service in June. They will have the liberty to introduce reforms to turn the corporation profitable.
The individual corporations will decide all the matters, including the transfer and salary of the employees. Transfers will be given only within the jurisdictional area of each corporation. Assets like buses and depots will be divided up among the three corporations.
“It is not easy to decide the services from the Chief Office in Thiruvananthapuram by taking into account the exact needs of the local areas in each district. People should not be made to wait for getting a response to their grievances from Thiruvananthapuram. The planned decentralisation will help in making the services more efficient and ensure better travel facilities. The process of dividing the KSRTC into three corporations will be completed soon," stated Transport Minister Antony Raju.
Even though the KSRTC was divided into four zones earlier to ensure better operation of the services, they will cease to exist once the corporations are formed.
Long-distance services will not function under the new corporations but will continue to be run by the 2021-founded K-SWIFT transport company.
TN model
The corporations will be formed on the lines of the model in Tamil Nadu which has eight road transport corporations. A team under the Transport Secretary had visited Chennai twice to study the functioning of the public transport system in Tamil Nadu.
Likely to impact unions
With the division of the KSRTC, the strength of the employees’ organisations is expected to weaken. Recognised trade unions will be formed in each of the corporations by conducting a referendum.
