MALAPPURAM: Efforts to increase the quota of concession passes issued to students travelling in KSRTC buses in district did not make any headway even after the district collector M C Mohandas convened a meeting on Tuesday.
At the students’ travelling facility committee meeting held here KSRTC officials declined to increase the number of passes to be issued on the ground that the number is decided based on the number of bus services that operate in the district.
Last year KSRTC had received 700 applications from students and it disbursed 650 passes. The district transport officer K Radhakrishnan said the corporation cannot take a final decision on the number of passes to be distributed. “Considering the number of services we are unable to increase the number,” he said.
The DTO said though the representatives of students’ organizations and private bus owners have demanded not to put any ceiling on the number of passes to be issued, there is immense pressure on KSRTC district offices to cut short the number. “The only way to resolve the issue is to raise the demand through people’s representatives and local organizations,” he said.
KSRTC had started 30 new services in the Chamravattom route after the commissioning of the Chamravattom RCB last week. The district collector had asked the KSRTC to sanction concession pass in all these 30 services as private buses are yet to start their services. The DTO bought time stating that increasing the quota involves lots of official procedures.
Source: Times Of India
