The new administrative building of the KSRTC at the central depot here is lying under utilised due to the lack of water supply. According to officials, the building is yet to receive a water connection though the construction of the four-storey building was completed two years ago. The reason? It took time for the KSRTC to settle the water dues. At one point, the dues to the Kerala Water Authority had reached around Rs 1 crore.
According to District Transport Officer, A Chandrasekharan Nair, the dues accumulated over the years. “The parking area owned by the railways and the land upto New Theatre belonged to the KSRTC in the past. However, even after the land was transferred, the KWA was charging KSRTC for using taps in the area. Also, owing to some technical issues, some of the bills which were paid were not acknowledged,” he said.
KSRTC officials said that they approached the KWA and the total due amount from 98.5 lakhs was brought down to around Rs 20 lakhs. In November last year, the Corporation paid three bills totaling Rs 15,12,682 as a one-time-settlement. Since the amount was higher than Rs 5 lakh, the KWA board had to agree with the settlement, said DTO.
KWA has sought the sanction of the Road Fund Board to cut the road for laying pipes from SS Kovil road. “We need to take water connection from a large pipe which is available only at SS Kovil road. A large pipe of 200 mm is needed for the connection as the water requirement is huge. At present we are waiting for the sanction,” said the engineer.
The old structure was demolished to build the new building in 2007 when Mathew T Thomas was the Minister for Transport. The administrative building along with the commercial building at the main department was constructed by Kerala Transport Development Finance Corporation (KTDFC). According to Nair, KTDFC should have arranged for the water connection.
At present an outlet of Indian Coffee House is running at the ground floor of the building. KSRTC provides water to the outlet by pumping water from a well in its compound in East Fort to transporting it on tankers.It has also made a bore well to tap underground water.
However, lack of water connection delayed the shifting of the DTO office which is now located at a remote corner alongside a drainage, officials added.
Original design of building
The building was designed to provide accommodation to senior officials.
A rest house was meant to be provided for staff in the top floor, training centre and cooperative unit in the second floor, DTO office in the second floor.
The new building could have been used as a resting place for the bus drivers.
The current rest room used by 50 odd drivers is a tin roofed shed adjacent to the office of DTO
The ground floor accommodateS 300 square feet for commercial use.
Central depot which is one of the largest depots of KSRTC, runs over 75 schedules a day.
News : The New Indian Express
