KOCHI: The nickname ‘Aanavandi (elephant vehicle) has been synonymous with Kerala State Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses puffing and panting connecting the nook and cranny of the state. The nickname and the logo of two elephants have most effectively reflected the finances of the state carrier which over a period earned the ill-repute of a white elephant accumulating humongous loss.
Aggressive trade unionism, lethargic staff, corrupt, indifferent and inefficient management, lack of visionary leadership, vested interests and political interventions have been cited as the reasons for KSRTC’s travails. The state government had handed over the reins of KSRTC to two senior IPS officers - ADGP Tomin J Thachankary and former Kochi City Police Commissioner M P Dinesh to boost the transport giant’s sagging finances. While Thachankary was shunted out disgracefully as he earned the wrath of the unrelenting trade unions, M P Dinesh tread cautiously without antagonising the union leaders.
As chairman and managing director of KSRTC, M P Dinesh has been focusing on route rationalisation to bridge the widening income-expenditure gap. However, the flaws pointed out by Sushil Khanna committee which submitted its report to the Chief Minister on February 28, 2019, are yet to be implemented. Efforts to address issues like absenteeism, low staff productivity, schedule cancellations, workshop modernisation and computerisation have not yielded the desired result allegedly due to the negative attitude of the employees.The Sushil Khanna panel, which conducted an exhaustive two-year study to understand the issues plaguing the corporation, has suggested changes in policies to transform KSRTC into a viable and profitable organisation.
The panel had suggested the constitution of a professional board, consisting of transport, financial and management experts that can assist in a strategic thrust for turning around the KSRTC. The proposal was for a dual board structure retaining the current board consisting of trade unions and elected representatives as an advisory board.
As per the report, the KSRTC had an accumulated loss of `8,031.56 crore in 2016-17. The corporation was just able to meet its direct operational expenses, including fuel, spares, maintenance and direct wages till 2012-13. Its current stream is inadequate even to cover the direct operational expenses. Meanwhile, the pension liabilities which amounted to around `500 crore per year and interest costs were spiralling. The share of non-operating expense touched 35 per cent in 2016-17 adding to the worries. The non-operating expenses included debt charges and pension payments.
Increased borrowings led the KSRTC into a severe debt trap. KSRTC’s debt burden stood at Rs 3,144.35 crore in March 2016. There was an additional borrowing of Rs 1,945 crore in September 2018, which aggravated the crisis. To wriggle out of the crisis, KSRTC negotiated a loan of Rs 3,085.37 crore from a consortium of banks while the loans from Kerala Government amounted to Rs 1,903.44 till October 16, 2018.
A strategic audit conducted by Shushil Khanna panel revealed the reasons for the poor performance of KSRTC compared to other STCs in South India. While the fleet utilisation of APSRTC was 92.80 per cent, KSRTC was the worst performers with 83 per cent fleet utilisation. While the APSRTC had 4.85 employees per bus, KSRTC’s ratio stood at 8.37. Despite being overstaffed, the staff productivity of KSRTC was 36.80 km per staff per day. The productivity ratio of APSRTC was 70 km per staff, While Tamil Nadu’s State Express Transport Corporation was the best performer with 93.90 km per staff.
The Sushil Khanna panel found that KSRTC buses are kept off road for long periods for repairs. Loose work norms, idyllic work environment, archaic technology like hand painting of buses and poor inventory management were cited as reasons for low productivity.
A major reason for the cancellation of schedules was the mismatch between demand and deployment of staff. For example: While one schedule will be cancelled if the driver goes on leave, another trip will be cancelled due to want of conductor. Cancellation of schedules due to unavailability of crew vary from 150 to 250 schedules per day.
Another surprising revelation was the paper schedules or schedules that exist only in paper. These schedules were not operated for years but existed in paper to accommodate idle manpower. A lot of such schedules were scrapped in 2016 following an audit, but there were still lots of services that operate only a few days a year. The duty pattern of KSRTC was appalling as only less than one per cent of the staff followed the single duty pattern of 8 hours. The employees were of the habit of clubbing the duty for two to six days to avail additional off. For example: A driver following double duty pattern has to work only three days a week. As many as 91 per cent of the schedules were operated on double duty patterns while eight per cent of the staff clubbed three to six duties causing severe staff shortage and huge financial burden to the corporation.
As many as 3,500 employees were on unauthorised long leave in 2016. Many of them had gone abroad to work in the Middle East while others were running own private business. The employees going on long leave used to rejoin a few years before retirement to avail themselves of the retirement benefits.
KSRTC’s on-road buses had an average productivity of 332 km per day while the productivity of SETC was 608 km per day. The reasons were irrational running times to accommodate double duty patterns and trip curtailments without prior notice.
An audit of the workshops revealed that restrictive work practices and ineffective management had resulted in poor utilisation of workshops and manpower. The work norms of KSRTC workshops evolved through bargaining between trade unions and management. The KSRTC took 325-350 mandays for building a new bus body while APSRTC took only 200 mandays to accomplish the work. The industry norm for private workshops was only 140 mandays. Similarly, the KSRTC permanent staff took six mandays for tyre retreading.
The inefficiency of the workshops is obvious from the fact that 15 per cent of the buses remain off road, noted Sushil Khanna. The panel found that many critical management positions were left vacant while almost all senior positions were manned by people who began their career as drivers and conductors.
Sushil Khanna panel
The Sushil Khanna panel, which conducted an exhaustive two-year study to understand the issues plaguing the corporation, has suggested changes in policies to transform KSRTC into a viable and profitable organisation.
M P Sukumaran Nair
Expert: Enhance non-operational income
Kochi: KSRTC should enhance non-operational income to improve its finances, opined public sector Restructuring and Internal Audit Board (RIAB) former chairman M P Sukumaran Nair. “KSRTC has got prime property across Kerala which should be commercially utilised to improve income. Another option is to launch a courier service. With e-commerce firms competing aggressively, KSRTC has got the tremendous opportunity as it operates services to the nook and cranny of the state,” he said. The management should implement steps to improve the relationship with employees and cultivate a positive work culture, he said. “Public transport cannot be operated relying solely on operational income. The government should provide grant to sustain the corporation. Meanwhile, the management should initiate steps to bring down expenditure and improve income,” he said.