Crews of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) at Central Depot here have a harrowing time with lack of a proper office and rest room. The depot in the heart of the city is one of the largest of the state carrier and it currently has an office room built on top of a septic tank.

Adjacent to the office is a tin sheet-roofed shed for drivers. But stench and mosquitoes from the nearby sewer make stay difficult for the 50-odd drivers who use the facility at a time. The depot runs more than 75 schedules a day and drivers from other depots also depend on the facility.

“Drivers are forced to eat their meal braving the stench. Drivers who should be taking rest before long trips loitering around the premises as they cannot sleep is a common sight,” said a driver attached to the depot. However, District Transport Officer (DTO) A Chandrasekharan Nair  said that there were adequate facilities for drivers. ”We have provided enough facilities. There are 30 latrines alone,” he said. Nair alleged that some of the employees destroy amenities and steal water taps, that has resulted in 15 replacements a month.

But he admitted that mosquitoes and stench were an issue. “We cannot do anything on sewerage. It is the duty of the City Corporation to keep it clean. We have paid a tax of Rs 6.7 lakh  to the local body. But our repeated appeals to clean the sewerage have fallen on deaf ears,” said the DTO.

While the staff faces the ordeal, a four-storeyed administrative building of KSRTC is lying unused. The old structure was demolished to build the new building when Mathew T Thomas was the Minister for Transport.

“Successive governments have failed to reinstate our facilities. We used to have better rooms and a tiled floor. Rooms in the new building have been mostly allocated for higher officials,” said a driver.

But DTO Nair said that the building was not used because water connection was not provided by the Kerala Water Authority. When water bill dues mounted to over Rs 80 lakh, the connection was severed. KSRTC paid Rs 17 lakh as one-time payment and since the amount exceeded Rs 5 lakh, the board has to approve reinstating the connection. KSRTC expects this to happen soon.

News : The New Indian Express

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