The ruling by the National Green Tribunal Circuit Bench in Kochi on Monday, which banned light and heavy diesel vehicles that were more than 10 years old in six major cities of the state, would force the government-run Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) to take out some 700 buses from its fleet. In fact, 10 to 12 per cent of the Corporation’s 6,000-strong fleet are 10-13 years old. Meanwhile, KSRTC is yet to asses the fallout of the ruling.
“ At present we comply with the fitness norms of the Motor Vehicles Department. As the ruling will result in withdrawing some of the buses from the road we are exploring the legal options also.” said Chairman and Managing Director of KSRTC, Antony Chacko. The average age of KSRTC buses is nine years and the Corporation disposes of the buses which are over 13 years old. However, a senior official said the new ruling might not affect KSRTC that much since several new buses were purchased to replace the existing ones. There are around 300 chassis lying at the Central Workshop at Pappanamcode near here and the regional workshops at Mavelikara,
Aluva, Edappal, and Kozhikode for building the body. And the KSRTC will receive another 1,350 chassis following the agreement signed with three automobile manufacturers. The workshops have the capacity to roll out 120 buses in a month. Besides the corporation has around 20 new low-floor buses lying unutilised at the Training Centre at East Fort here. The official said the ruling could well help KSRTC to save the huge amounts spent on procuring spare parts and the new buses would result in less number of breakdowns.
News : The New Indian Express
