KSRTC CMD planning to quit

Arjun RaghunathFirst Published : 09 Mar 2010 02:30:00 AM ISTLast Updated :

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Aggrieved over the step-motherly treatment being meted out by the State Government towards KSRTC, KSRTC Chairman and Managing Director T.P.Senkumar is planning to quit the post.


Highly placed sources in the Transport Department told `Express’ that Senkumar had called on Transport Minister Jose Thettayil and expressed his unwillingness to continue in the post. Though the Minister had refused to relieve Senkumar, he is planning to go on long leave soon, it is reliably learnt. The criticisms against KSRTC in the budget speech is said to be the latest provocation for Senkumar, who is an IPS officer in the rank of ADGP.

Senkumar however refused to comment on the matter.

Sources said that Senkumar, who took over the leadership of the loss- making corporation in November 2006, had put forward various suggestions, including introduction of contributory pension in the corporation and reimbursement of expenses incurred on various bus passes, in order to plug the sky-rocketing expenditure of the corporation.

It is pointed out that around 20 percent of KSRTC’s expenditure is being spent on paying pension The monthly expenditure on pension is around Rs 25 crore at present.

During the past 10 years, KSRTC had spent Rs 950 crore on pension. Similarly Rs 900 crore was spent on various bus passes. In the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, the expenses on various passes are reimbursed by the state governments there. The transport corporations in those states are also not burdened with pension expenses. Pension was introduced in KSRTC in 1984 without conducting proper studies, sources said. Similarly in neighbouring states, the buses of the RTCs are purchased by the government, whereas in Kerala the KSRTC has to purchase buses by raising loans. Moreover, in the case of number of buses also there is also much difference in Kerala compared to the neighbouring states. While the number of buses of the RTCs is several times higher than that of private buses in neighbouring states, in Kerala it is the opposite.

While the number of KSRTC buses is around 4900, the number of private buses in the state is 13,000. In Tamil Nadu, the number of RTC buses is 22,000 and the number of private buses is 5,500, in Karnataka it is 20,500 and 5,000 and in Andhra Pradesh 21,000 and 1,200, sources point out.

It is also pointed out that though the Government had recently announced that Rs 1,070 crore of KSRTC’s dues would be written off, it comprised Rs 195 crore interest and penal interest and the remaining included accounts to certain inflated taxes. Hence, it did not make any effect on KSRTC’s finances.

Sources said that Senkumar has taken up these issues with the Government several times. However, the government was not prepared to address these issues.