Owing to construction works at the KSRTC parking ground at Karikkamury, 60 KSRTC buses were shifted to the Ambedkar Stadium here on Thursday night.
The decision to shift the buses came in the wake of re-surfacing works being undertaken by the Kerala State Construction Corporation (KSCC) at the mud-filled ground from Wednesday.
“We approached the District Collector on Thursday morning and sought permission to park our buses at the Ambedkar Stadium. The application was then forwarded to the GCDA officials, under whom the stadium comes. We have not received any word from the GCDA chairman as of now, but we have decided to shift the buses,” said KSRTC Ernakulam Assistant Transport Officer C Venugopal.
Also, the official said that the decision had to be taken because the KSCC was firm that it would not allow any of the KSRTC buses to be parked once the work started. “It was a genuine demand and that’s why we sought permission to park our buses at the stadium for at least 15 days, by then the work is expected to be completed,” he said.
Venugopal said that at least 180 buses park at the Karrikamury ground every day. “Since, only 40 per cent of the area is currently under repair, we are shifting only 60 of the buses from the ground during the night hours. It will include the double duty buses and a few of the inter-state buses,” he said.
The remaining buses will be shifted to the KSRTC stand at the Ernakulam Boat Jetty area, he said.
The work at the Karikkamury ground had started after repeated demands by the KSRTC, which was forced to frequently cancel services since the buses were getting stuck on the ground, especially during the rains.
“The KSCC plans to place inter-locking tiles on the ground so that the parking ground will require only minimum maintenance,” Venugopal added.
Source: New Indian Express
