Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Crackdown on parallel services from today

Thiruvananthapuram: The police have formed six special squads for helping the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) curb van and mini-bus operators who unlawfully conduct stage carriage services in the city.

City Police Commissioner Ravada Azad Chandrasekhar said the drive against parallel services will commence at 6 a.m. on Friday. The enforcement teams will comprise Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) officials also.

The teams will position themselves at the city’s various entry points. The enforcers will not allow parallel service vehicles to operate beyond these points. The permit of contract carriages operating stage carriage services will be cancelled. The vehicles will be confiscated and operators fined up to Rs.3000.

The KSRTC operates 6,200 trips on a daily basis in the district. Nearly 400 KSRTC buses operate in the city alone. Official sources said parallel services could operate for some more time in outlying areas of the district, particularly where the KSRTC is currently unable to provide sufficient number of bus services.

(The rural population relies heavily on parallel services to commute to urban areas.)

The KSRTC suffers a daily revenue loss of more than Rs.20 lakh because of parallel service operations in the city. Certain private stage carriage operators in the city are also eating into KSRTC’s revenue by operating much beyond the routes allocated to them. These operators often violate the operational timings allocated to them by the Motor Vehicles Department.

A senior official said stringent action, would be initiated against errant private bus operators. The Government has initiated these measures to save the financially ailing KSRTC, which has a 25,000 strong work-force, he said.

The Government is also seriously thinking of allowing only the KSRTC to operate in certain city routes.

Several routes allocated to private bus operators are likely to be nationalised in the long run, official sources said.

The traffic police said mini-buses and vans conducting stage carriage services are often the main cause of traffic jams in the city.

Parallel service drivers have no respect for designated bus stops and pick-up and drop passengers at any point.

The race between private bus and parallel service drivers for passengers often endangers the safety of road users.

Political interference has often blunted the Government’s drive against parallel services.

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