PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said his government was working on a plan to nationalise all major public transport routes in the State which would also bring on board buses operated by the private players along with the Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC).
Sawant said the plan envisages devising a formula by which private buses in the existing public transport system will be brought on board with the KTC buses to operate on these routes which will be nationalised.
Currently, only a few city-to-city routes are nationalized and only KTC buses operate them.
The chief minister said the plan aims to increase the efficiency and improve the quality of the public bus transport services which will also help improve profitability of both the KTC operations as well as of the private sector.
"This process will be completed by next Dussehra," Sawant said.
The chief minister was speaking at the event held at the KTC headquarters in Panaji to celebrate the State-owned corporation's 42nd anniversary.
He praised the services rendered for 42 years by the KTC in meeting the daily commuting needs of the population residing in the rural regions of Goa.
"When it comes to the KTC, the government is not bothered much about the profits or losses it makes. It has served Goa's rural areas like Valpoi, Sattari, Sanguem and Quepem well," Sawant said.
The chief minister also gave credit to the staff of the KTC who he said had a big role in ensuring delivery of services.
The staff at the KTC should not be worried about any retrenchment due to the arrival of the electric buses in the fleet.
"There will be no retrenchment. Existing staff will be accommodated. Efforts are also on to make the KTC profitable,” he said.
Nationalization of public bus transport routes was a process which had begun in the late 1990s, when the major city-to-city routes were given exclusively to the KTC. These services became popular among daily commuters and are colloquially referred to as "KTC shuttle services".
The KTC operates these 'shuttle' services on the Panaji-Margao, Panaji-Vasco, Panaji-Ponda, Panaji-Mapusa and Margao-Vasco routes.
