Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Citizens’ charter soon in Transport Department

Mathew T. Thomas says aim is to tackle corruption, middlemen.

Thiruvananthapuram: Transport Minister Mathew T Thomas has said that his department proposes to issue a citizens’ charter to tackle graft and middlemen.

He also announced a series of measures to improve the functioning of his department focussing on induction of interceptors, speed radars and smoke meters, utilising the Road Safety Authority funds.

Replying to the debate on demands for grants for Transport, Printing and Stationery in the Assembly on Tuesday, the Minister claimed that the KSRTC’s performance had improved since the induction of new buses, with earnings per bus going by from Rs.6,600 to Rs.7,030 and the kilometre per bus going up from 3.84 to 4.16, registering total savings of Rs.27.39 crore.

The Minister maintained that the government had not given any assurance to bus operators about increasing the fare for students.

The Minister came in for criticism on the floor of the House, with Opposition members maintaining that the transport offices were infested with agents and middlemen who took advantage of the delay in issuing various documents, including driving licences, RC books etc.

The most clinical criticism came from the former Transport Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar who pointed out the delay in issuing RC books and driving licences despite computerisation and levying of service charge.

He used government figures to contend that the KSRTC was not performing as projected. He had inducted 500 new buses but the overall collections came down drastically, he said. The House was unanimous in its concern at the increasing road accidents. The Minister said the Road Safety Authority was examining the road safety action plan and once this was implemented there would be better focus on the issue.

The authority started work six months ago and he hoped that it would be able to constructively contribute once the staffing and procedural issues were settled.

Maintaining that his department had improved motor vehicle tax collections, he said enforcement of the laws would be made more stringent to prevent drunk driving and other offences.

With regard to the KSRTC, he proposed to induct more new buses in the coming years.

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