Transport sector rejig: Panel report in 3 months

By Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: With state-run transport corporations turning into white elephants bleeding the exchequer, the Karnataka government has constituted a one-man committee headed by retired IAS officer, M.R.Sreenivasamurthy to take care of their restructuring, asset management, resource mobilization and ensure they become self-reliant.

The committee had been given three months to submit its report. The state government is considering merging all three corporations- Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) and Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KKRTC) with Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) to make the transport corporation a profitable venture.

The decision to bifurcate the once profit making KSRTC into three corporations, BMTC, NWKRTC and KKRTC (hitherto, North East Karnataka Road Transport Corporation), was taken nearly 10-15 years ago as part of decentralisation. The headquarters of NWKRTC and KKRTC are located in Hubballi and Kalaburagi respectively. The buses, staff and other assets were distributed among all three corporations with an idea of ensuring decentralised administration and good service to commuters.

But these corporations are incurring huge losses because of lack of proper management. While BMTC made small profits, the other two corporations suffered heavy losses due to high operational costs, bad roads and competition from private bus operators. Besides, scams bled the two corporations making them unviable.Taking these factors into consideration, the state government is planning to merge all three corporations.