Thiruvananthapuram: Biju Prabhakar who was removed as the Secretary, Transport Department on Monday told Onmanorama that he never had any personal differences with the Transport Minister K B Ganesh Kumar and that it was just a matter of different perceptions. He said that he submitted the letter expressing his wish to discontinue as the CMD of KSRTC on January 29.
"I waited for one week for a decision. In the meantime on January 30, a DPC meeting was held and that was done in my capacity as the Transport secretary. Handling 4500 buses of KSRTC is a 24 hour job which comes with a set of demanding tasks. I cited personal reasons to discontinue as the KSRTC CMD," he said. With no decision being taken on his letter, Biju Prabhakar went on leave.
Biju Prabhakar was a key advocate of introducing e-buses and circular services in Trivandrum. Ganesh Kumar who took over the Transport portfolio from Antony Raju had a different take on e-buses and stated that e-buses were not profitable.
Dr K Vasuki will replace Prabhakar as Secretary of Transport Department. A government order in this regard was issued Monday evening. The Transport Secretary post has been given as an additional charge for Vasuki, who will also hold the post of Secretary, Labour and Skills Department.
Prabhakar has been posted as Secretary of Industries Department (Mining & Geology, Plantation, Coir, Handloom & Cashew). He will also hold the full additional charges of Transport (Railways, Metro and Aviation), besides serving as Commissioner to the Guruvayoor and Koodal Manickam Devaswoms.
