Thiruvananthapuram: In an attempt to rescue itself from the financial crisis that it is in, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has decided to include agricultural produce in its courier service. Currently, the daily income from the corporation’s courier service which was launched four months ago has crossed Rs 1 lakh. The plan to transport farmers’ produce in passenger buses has been envisaged with the aim of increasing the earnings per day to Rs 15 lakh.

As the first step, the corporation has signed an agreement with farmers’ groups to transport plantains from Wayanad to different markets, including those in Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram. The transport charge for a kilogram of produce is Rs 5. Farmers’ organisations have approached the KSRTC to transport vegetables from Vattavada in Idukki to markets in different places. The corporation’s plan is to set apart the last two or three seats of buses for carrying the produce in the initial phase. Later, the KSRTC will use its own vans to transport the produce. In a similar manner, there are also plans to transport fish from the coastal areas to other places in the State.

The KSRTC has sought financial assistance from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in order to open cold storage at 48 depots of the corporation from where courier service is available. The corporation is also proposing to give 15% commission to persons who bring in courier orders consistently. The employees of the corporation will get 2% commission. At present, the courier consignments are transported only to the depots. Discussions are on with a startup company to deliver the courier to the doorstep of the consignees.

The KSRTC’s advantage over other courier services is that it can transport consignments from Kerala to depots even outside the State such as those in Bengaluru and Chennai within 16 hours.