ALAPPUZHA: Negative publicity and crackdown on tourist buses following last week’s Vadakkenchery accident that killed five schoolchildren and four others have come as a boon for KSRTC. The corporation’s Budget Tourism Cell (BTC) is flooded with enquiries from schools that wish to hire buses to take students on tour. “We provided buses for 20 school trips in just a couple of days last week. We are flooded with enquiries. Our office in Thiruvananthapuram received seven calls on Wednesday alone,” said BTC state coordinator Prasanth Vijay.
“This, coupled with shortage of buses, has forced us to turn down requests by schools,” he said. “Currently we are using spare buses of KSRTC for the trips. We have written to the KSRTC management and the transport minister seeking more buses,” he said.
“We plan to lease out more buses, but the government is yet to give approval. To operate inter-state services, we need buses that are in good condition. We plan to open booking offices in other south Indian states. We have held discussions with agencies like the IRCTC to make arrangements and bookings in other states,” said Prasanth. He said a few school managements had approached them asking to operate during nighttime.“The transport department has issued orders to operate services only between 6am and 9pm. We can only run adhering to the government guidelines,” he said.
BTC Alappuzha unit was the first to take school students on tour in KSRTC buses, before the Vadakkanchery accident. “We have already conducted four school trips,” said BTC district coordinator Shefeeq Ibrahim. “Ten tourist destinations of the district are included in the trip and `300 is being charged from students for an eight-hour journey. Apart from them, teachers and escort staff can also travel,” he said.