THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KSRTC has increased its efforts to prevent ticketless travel and pilferage in buses by strengthening its ticket-checking procedures. The management has directed inspectors in the organisation to focus on ticket inspection. It has also given them daily and monthly inspection targets and officers who meet their targets will receive rewards, while those who fail to do so will be penalised.
Conductors caught collecting money without issuing tickets will have to pay a penalty 10 times the loss, based on the report submitted by the inspectors, and the inspectors will receive a 25% reward. The new order requires most inspectors to inspect at least 12 buses daily and file reports, while general controlling inspectors and senior officers on the operation side have to inspect at least 20 buses in a month.
KSRTC CMD Biju Prabhakar said that ticketless travel has increased due to a lack of inspections and it was essential to check the revenue loss. He has warned employees of taking action under the Kerala Civil Service rules and other relevant sections of the IPC for siphoning off money from fare collected, stealing, and malpractices in local purchases. KSRTC has already suspended at least three conductors for not issuing tickets after collecting money in March.
Jude Joseph, a former vehicle supervisor and whistleblower, said the absence of inspections is the main reason why ticketless travel has increased.” The inspectors use their political clout to keep away from field duty. Some conductors also find it convenient to steal money,” he added. In the new order, the power to reassign duties of checking inspector is vested solely with the CMD.
However, trade unions blame the management for redeploying inspectors for other duties. G Rahul, general secretary of Kerala State Road Transport Employees Union, said the pilferage is maximum in KSRTC Swift, which has employed temporary staff. “The role of inspectors and targets are well defined. But the management keeps changing them,” he said.
Checking on
Inspectors in KSRTC: 496
Targets for inspectors: 12 buses per day
Targets for senior inspectors and officers in operations: 20 buses per month
Fine for erring conductor: 10 times the loss, criminal case if the offence repeated
The reward for inspecting officer: 25% of the fine