The 45th annual State convention of the Kerala State Road Transport Employees Association (KSRTEA) is set to convene in Kozhikode from September 22 to 24.
Elamaram Kareem, the State General Secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), will formally open the convention on Monday at V.S. Achuthanandan Nagar (Kozhikode Town Hall). Approximately 500 chosen delegates from various Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) units across the state are expected to participate in this significant gathering.
C.K. Harikrishnan, the association’s working president, informed reporters on Saturday that the KSRTC is currently navigating numerous pressing challenges. These issues will form the core of discussions during the three-day convention. He emphasized that while the corporation is making strides in recovering from its financial difficulties by exploring non-ticket revenue streams, the Central government’s uncooperative stance towards public road transport corporations nationwide remains a grave concern.
Currently, the State government provides KSRTC with ₹50 crore monthly for salaries and an additional ₹73 crore for pensions. In parallel, KSRTC is actively seeking to boost its income by launching new bus services, implementing financial restructuring to reduce costs, and developing non-ticket revenue sources such as budget tourism initiatives, logistics services, and its proprietary fuel-supply centers, Yatra Fuels.
However, the corporation continues to be impacted by escalating fuel prices, the provisions of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act of 2019, and the handling of the e-bus project. Harikrishnan highlighted that KSRTC requires 3.5 lakh liters of diesel daily, and increasing ticket fares every time fuel prices surge is not a sustainable solution. He also pointed out the additional burden of paying ₹2 extra per liter for diesel as a bulk purchaser.
Furthermore, he criticized the amended Motor Vehicles Act for allowing large luxury vehicles to operate as stage carriages without proper permits. He also raised concerns that the e-bus project, instead of being managed by transport corporations, has been contracted out to private entities, yet the corporations are still expected to provide the necessary depot infrastructure. Harikrishnan asserted that these policies appear to be a deliberate strategy to privatize the state’s public transport corporations. In response, all KSRTC employees’ unions, regardless of their political affiliations, have scheduled a unified protest against these developments for October 12.
The convention’s agenda also includes a vital seminar titled ‘The Kerala Economy and Central Policies,’ scheduled for Monday at 4 p.m. at the Town Hall. Former Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac will deliver the inaugural address, with T.P. Ramakrishnan, State president of the association and an MLA, moderating the session. The main delegates’ convention will then proceed at Anathalavattom Anandan Nagar (MAM Jubilee Hall) on Tuesday and Wednesday, concluding its proceedings at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.