The Kerala Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) which has been having a hard time with the recent fuel price hike, has now to tackle another problem with the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) intensifying its drive to seal speed governors in the Corporation’s buses.
As many as 15 buses belonging to the Corporation have been issued notice for the cancellation of fitness certificates by the Motor Vehicles Department since October 17.
“Almost all the buses under the KSRTC have speed governors installed in them. However, some of the equipment in the buses has been found to be faulty. Some speed governors in the buses were simply not working. Attempts on our part to rectify the errors are already under way and the entire procedure is expected to be completed at the earliest,’’ said K M Irshad, Chief Traffic Manager and executive director (Operations) KSRTC.
The Motor Vehicles Department had launched an extensive sealing drive with the deadline for heavy vehicles to get the anomalies rectified on the mandatory speed governors ending on October 2.
However, the KSRTC was allowed an extended deadline for carrying out the rectification of the anomalies considering the huge number of buses under its possession.
Many of the buses in the fleet of 6157 buses under the Corporation had undergone rechecks and installation of equipment for the past two weeks at the depots.
“The KSRTC has also come under the scanner when the checking on anomalies in their speed governors began on Thursday. They were given a more relaxed approach taking into consideration the large fleet of buses being operated by the Corporation,” Thiruvananthapuram RTO K M Shaji said.
Although Transport Commissioner Rishi Raj Singh has said that the drive against faulty speed governors will be intensified to enforce proper use of speed governors on stage carriers to curb speeding and thereby prevent accidents which have increased tremendously in the state in the recent times, the Motor Vehicles Department had adopted a mild stand against the buses owned by the state transport corporation.
The majority of the buses are taken to the officials of the department to get the seal to make the speed governors tamper-proof.
However, technical snag and disbursing funds have been cited as a major reason behind the Corporation’s inability to ensure the sealing of speed governors in all its vehicles on time.
Heavy shortage of sensors and other materials associated with the speed governors are the causes which are significantly delaying the rectifying process at various KSRTC depots in the state.