Unfit buses deployed for service, allege KSRTC officials at high-level meet

Thiruvananthapuram: Senior officials of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) have raised a complaint at a high-level meeting that buses from the District Common Pool (DCP) are unfit for conducting services. The DCP was formed to ensure the smooth conduct of schedules.

Officials pointed out that several buses sent to units from the pool had either their seats removed or were covered with fungus due to the apathy of those responsible for the upkeep of buses, the minutes of the meeting, accessed by Manorama Online, revealed.

The DCP was formed at the behest of the managing director of KSRTC. The buses in the pool were meant to replace vehicles that have broken down during trips and to address shortages of buses.

But due to the lack of regular maintenance, those in the pool have been rendered unfit for conducting services. The south DCP zone has 550 buses under it at Eanchakkal and Parassala depots.

The zonal traffic officer told the meeting that many buses from the pool had not reached the depots. Of the five buses received from the pool, three had dummy tyres, and were without horns and rear-view mirrors, chief of the unit at Neyyattinkara said.

Some other buses did not have seats, while a few others were fungus-covered. General CI, Poovar, said unfit buses from the pool were towed into Poovar when the depot had 17 operational buses in its parking lot.

Officials from Kollam said their district was not receiving enough buses from the Ernakulam DCP.

The KSRTC managing director had suspended two employees after it was found that two buses deployed for Pamba-Nilakkal chain service had leaky roofs. More officials would face action after receiving reports from various units.