A courier service by KSRTC, one of the initiatives to modernise and thereby bring in money to the ailing corporation, the talks on which was going on since June 2014, is expected to materialise by the beginning of the next fiscal year.
The KSRTC had invited for re-tender on January 31 as only one bidder had qualified in the first tender process to begin the service. The bidding process will be completed in two weeks and it is expected that the entire process can be finalised by the beginning of April.
The KSRTC would provide courier boxes in buses and space on rent at its headquarters, Transport Bhavan at East Fort here, to the firm which would be entrusted to carry out the initiative.
“When we invited tenders for the first time, three firms had applied and only one could qualify. We are keen on the credibility of the firm. We invited re-tender and now the response is better and hopefully we can begin the service by the beginning of the next fiscal year,” KSRTC finance manager R Sudhakaran said.
Already there are courier boxes in 4,000 buses owned by the Corporation. These boxes were made when the body of the buses were manufactured as early as in 2007. “At present, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu Road Transport Corporations are operating courier services. The courier facility in the state utility will have more reach than the private-owned services which are mostly city-oriented as the KSRTC is operating buses to almost all parts of the state,” officer on special duty G P Pradeep Kumar said.
Though KSRTC mooted a project for courier service named ‘Garuda Courier Services’ in 2009, it could not materialise as the Corporation could not find out a private partner to launch the project. The project was to enter into a tie-up with courier companies by renting out the wide network of the KSRTC to various destinations in and out of the state.
KSRTC In Media News: New Indian Express
