THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Friday submitted a proposal to the Finance Department to allot Rs 359 crore for institutional strengthening and project development.
The proposal submitted to Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) V Somasundaran had excluded the demand for a special pension fund as the Finance Department had rejected the same in a meeting convened by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy the other day. The Finance Department would finalise the proposal in a couple of days. The KSRTC expects to break even using Rs 359 crore. “We have submitted the proposal mainly aiming at two things: For institutional strengthening and for project development through which we can achieve a break even,” Minister for Transport Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said, adding that the pension arrears could also be settled using the amount.
The KSRTC was asked to submit a fresh proposal when Finance Minister K M Mani held discussions with Transport Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan the other day. The Finance Department then agreed to sanction Rs 248 crore.
Highly placed sources in the Finance Department said that it would take two moredays to finalise the proposal. However, the Transport Minister’s optimism to achieve a break even with Rs 359 crore seems to be an exaggeration as the KSRTC urgently needs Rs 114 crore for settling the pension arrears itself.