Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) managing director M G Rajamanickam has written to the state transport secretary with a proposal to restrict the free travel facility available to school students in view of the financial woes faced by the public stage carrier.
At present, all students up to the higher secondary level can avail of free travel in KSRTC buses.
However, citing that the KSRTC is incurring a loss of Rs. 42,000 crore by virtue of extending the largesse to the students, Mr. Rajamanickam wants free travel to be restricted to only students of government and aided schools.
Media reports quote the KSRTC MD as saying in the letter that the public transport utility is potentially losing 1.5 lakh commuters daily on account of the free travel largesse being given to students.
According to figures with the KSRTC, 2, 89, 969 students are at present availing of the free travel concession.
However, minister for transport A K Saseendran feigned ignorance about the letter in response to queries by newsmen on Friday.
In response to queries about the proposal purportedly mooted by the KSRTC MD in his letter, Mr. Saseendran said that no such thing was under the consideration of the government.
Not all proposals made by the KSRTC MD need to be accepted by the government, he said, adding that it was for the government to take a call on the issue of free travel facility for students.
