Karnataka - Bellary   

NEKRTC to procure 200 new buses

Staff Correspondent

Rs. 50 crore for improving infrastructure

BELLARY: The North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC) in Gulbarga will soon procure 200 new buses, according to its chairman Subhash Kallur.

Speaking to presspersons here on Thursday, he said that the corporation had availed itself of a loan of Rs. 44 crore and had placed orders for the buses. The new buses were expected to be supplied within a month. Of the 200 buses, about 60 buses would be allotted to Bellary division.

Mr. Kallur said that the Government had sanctioned Rs. 50 crore to the NEKRTC to take up development works. The funds would be utilised to construct new bus stands, modernisation of the existing ones, laying of roads inside bus stands and improving the basic facilities and amenities for passengers.

The proposal forwarded included construction of bus stands in Moka, Kuditini, Kampli, laying of concrete road at the new central bus stand in Bellary and in other places.

Mr. Kallur said that the NEKRTC, which was undergoing loss till last year, had started earning profit. After he took over as the chairman, the organisation had earned a profit of Rs. 6.5 crore in the last four months. “Motivation, followed by hard work done by the entire staff, improving fuel efficiency, minimum number of accidents, introduction of ticket issuing machines, which helped in plugging the leakages, among other things has resulted in organisation making profit,” he said. Mr. Kallur said that he had proposed to create a new division for Bellary district to ensure efficient administration and proper service. According to him, it had become unwieldy to operate around 600 schedules in one division. It would be apt if there was one division for operating around 400 schedules. With that in view he had thought of creating one more division for the district and would place the proposal before the next meeting of the board for its approval, he said.

He said that one more depot would be added in Bellary city which would be exclusively for city services and plans were afoot to increase the number of city schedules.

When his attention was drawn to increase in reservation charges from Rs. 5 to Rs. 15, he said that he would take up the matter with the board.

Mallikarjunaiah, Divisional Controller, Bellary Division, was present.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

NEKRTC to procure 200 new buses

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu