MARGAO
After placing the KTC staff under suspension following the seizure of liquor at Telangana, KTC Chairman, MLA Ulhas Tuenkar has said that instructions have been issued to corporation officials to ensure that drivers and conductors attached to inter-stage buses are rotated every month as a matter of abundant caution.
The KTC Chairman further said that the corporation will float a tender to procure 50 new diesel buses for deployment on various routes. Saying that the KTC has received around 100 electric buses so far, he said the KTC has requested to procure an additional 100 buses to cater to the growing requirements.
On the 48 electric buses that will be deployed in the State capital under the Smart City project, Tuenkar said since the local bus owners have expressed their reservations against the move, the KTC has decided to rehabilitate the affected private bus owners on other routes.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the meeting of the District Planning Committee for South Goa at the South District Collectorate on Thursday, the KTC Chairman said what happened in Telangana should be avoided in the future. “We have placed the two KTC staff manning the bus to Telangana under suspension. To avoid such incidents in the future, it has been decided to rotate the staff on inter-state buses every month. I have been told that staff manning the inter-state buses are not rotated periodically,” he said.
Reminding that the KTC is providing services to the common man, Tuenkar said the corporation is operating on routes which are uneconomical but it has no other option but to ply the routes in the interest of the common man. “The government is presently bearing the monthly HR bill pegged at a whopping nine crore. Whatever revenue is generated goes towards the maintenance of the buses,” he added.
Saying the KTC had started the Mhaji bus scheme in South Goa a couple of months ago, the KTC Chairman said the scheme has not evoked the desired response in North Goa.
