KOCHI: The cash-strapped Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has issued strict instructions to all unit heads to come out with ‘feasible’ proposals to achieve a collective daily collection of Rs 9 crore, a 33 per cent rise from the current operational earnings of Rs six to seven crore.
As part of this, the Chairman and Managing Director is convening an online review meeting at 4 pm on August 31, when all the unit heads and the Regional Chief Traffic Officers have to submit feasible proposals to increase the collection of their respective units.
“The same has to be first sent to the Traffic Department and the Executive Director (Operations), and they need to be explained how the same will result in increased earnings. The unit heads should demand additional buses and crew only after conducting a proper study of the feasibility of the new routes. A circular has been sent to all the unit heads,” said a senior KSRTC officer.
Also, daily, weekly and monthly review meetings will be held to assess the progress towards achieving the target collection and the additional measures being taken from time to time to achieve the Rs 9 crore target.
Currently, the daily earnings of the corporation are in the range of Rs 6 to 7 crore. For instance, the total collection of all units on August 26 is Rs 6,08,60,578, with an Earnings Per Kilometre (EPM) of Rs 46.06.
Meanwhile, the Chief Office has fixed the new revenue targets to be achieved by each unit. The highest target of Rs 40.21 lakh is for Thiruvananthapuram Central unit, which operates the maximum number of buses.
This is followed by Kozhikode (Rs 30.01 lakh), Palakkad (Rs 23.59 lakh), Kottarakkara (Rs 23.43 lakh), Ernakulam (Rs 23 lakh), Pappanamcode (Rs 22.88 lakh) and Kannur (Rs 21.51 lakh), among others.
KSRTC offers to maintain LSGD vehicles
Meanwhile, the corporation has requested the Local Self Government Department (LSGD) to entrust it with the repair and maintenance of heavy vehicles of all LSGD institutions. Based on this, the LSDG Joint Director has written a letter to all the municipalities and local bodies, seeking their opinions on the same.
“The KSRTC has proposed to undertake the repair and maintenance of our heavy vehicles, subject to many conditions. However, we decided against this after presenting the same in the council meeting,” said Kochi Mayor Adv M Anilkumar.