Thiruvananthapuram: At a time when the Kerala government is pumping money to keep afloat the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), the transporter’s own employees are raking in the moolah by plying private buses that eat into the corporation’s revenue. The KSRTC vigilance wing has found that some of the officials have been conspiring with private bus operators to rearrange the time schedule for the corporation buses.
At least 15 KSRTC employees and three retired employees own vehicles that compete with the corporation’s services, the vigilance officers have found. A peon who works in the corporation’s Thiruvananthapuram depot is operating eight buses – all in the name of his wife or other close relatives – on routes served by the KSRTC.
The vigilance officials have also found that the erring employees went on competing with their own employer with a tacit understanding with top officials. The expose is likely to be only the tip of the iceberg. The vigilance has only finished its preliminary round of checks and more employees are likely to be cornered when the investigation is complete, officials said. The final report may be submitted by June end.
A retired ATO of the KSRTC has pressed into service seven buses on the busy Vyttila-Guruvayoor route. A retired inspector at Vattappara in Thiruvananthapuram district owns five buses.
A KSRTC driver has bought a bus that goes on long trips from Adoor. A staff at Thodupuzha has two buses.
KSRTC owes a significant part of its losses to private competition. The corporation’s own officers sometimes colluded to fix timetables to keep the buses off the road in rush hours in favor of private operators. KSRTC officers told Onmanorama that the corporation would deal with the problem sternly.
The KSRTC has a cumulative loss of Rs 3,622 crore.