Govt.’s intervention sought to resolve crisis gripping private bus sector

The State leadership of the Kerala State Motor and Engineering Labour Centre, affiliated with the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), has demanded that the State government intervene to resolve the crisis in the private bus sector and the resulting job losses among workers.

This crisis has been triggered by the ‘Priyadarshini’ scheme, which offers free travel for women on the State-owned KSRTC ordinary services, the HMS leadership said at a meeting in Kozhikode.

The office-bearers, including State president Manoj Gopi and national working committee member Manayath Chandran, said that while the free travel scheme supported women’s empowerment, the lack of proper financial alternatives had plunged both public transport and private bus sectors, along with hundreds of workers who depended on them for their livelihood, into a severe crisis.

HMS State secretary Biju Antony, who presented a report, said that since the launch of the scheme, the private bus industry had suffered a massive loss of ₹25 crore. Each of the 11,936 buses operating is recording a daily revenue loss ranging from ₹1,500 to ₹4,000. Unable to bear the financial strain, more than 800 buses have already submitted ‘G-Forms’ to the government to suspend services, and around 4,000 more buses are preparing to follow suit.

​The meeting also urged the government to ensure that the salaries and pensions of KSRTC employees were distributed in time. Simultaneously, an urgent special financial package must be sanctioned for the collapsing private bus sector and auto-taxi workers.